Ship Under Water
by zooku
Summary: evil!Water Tribe AU. The world lives under the dominion of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, but when rumours of the lost Avatar's return starts to escalate, the Water Tribes grip on their icy throne starts to slip. A story of nations pitted against one, lost hearts trying to find home, and the subsequent blurring of lines of what or who is good, and evil. Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Hello guys, its Puotters here, but you can just call me Cass. I've been working on this fanfiction for quite a while now, since I got the idea a year back. Its basically an AU where the Fire Nation isn't the so called "evil" in Avatar, and instead it's the Water Tribes. Its a little far-fetched, but lets just say that the Water Tribe had the industrial revolution that the Fire Nation had.**

 **Another thing that has been left to the imagination, the expanse or how powerful the Southern Water Tribe had been before the Fire Nation Raids. When only see the Southern Water Tribe after the raids, but what was it before that? I'm going to say that it would have been as huge as the Northern Water Tribe, so you have two mega civilisations and I'd reckon that between those two cities, it would be a pretty powerful force.**

 **So yes. Here is this AU, I'd say it will be pretty long, so pre warning if you don't like long-winded fics - since I'm trying to convert all the events of the original series to a legitimate story with the Water Tribe being the evil force here.**

 **So here it is. I hope you like it :^)**

 ** _Ages have been increased one more year._** _Aang: 12 (biologically) - stuck in iceberg for 101 years Zuko: 17_ _Azula: 15_ _Katara: 16_ _Sokka: 17_ _Toph: 13_

 _Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four Nations lived together in harmony. But then, everything changed when the Water Tribes attacked. And only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them; but when the world needed him most, he vanished. Now, the world lives under the dominion of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, and when rumours of the lost Avatar's return starts to escalate, the Water Tribe leaders grip on their icy throne starts to slip. A story of nations pitted against one, lost hearts trying to find home, and the subsequent blurring of lines of what or who is good, and evil. An Avatar Fanfiction AU._

 **Chapter 1**

100 AG, Summer

31st Day of the 7th Month

"Azula, where are we going?"

The red-and-gold-robed Fire Princess turned around, a scowl forming on her features. "Honestly Zu-zu, how can you not know?" She turned back around, ignoring the groans coming from her brother.

"We've been walking for ages now, and I don't even know why you dragged me along?" Her brother complained, trying to pull back his slouching shoulders and return to his lofty stance. "Next time you bring me on a random walk, you could at least have the courtesy of telling me where we're going?"

Azula laughed. "Well, where's the fun in that?" As she laughed, Zuko could see the faint flickers of fire puff out of her fingertips, a tell-tale sign that his sister was planning something. He a glare in her direction. Azula pouted. "Poor Zu-zu, must be hard being born without a sense of fun in the first place."

Zuko begrudgingly trailed after his sister, grumbling under his breath at every step, wondering what in the Fire Lord's name could Azula be so secretive about. They turned around a bend in the path, and Zuko almost crashed straight into Azula as she stopped abruptly. She stepped aside, motioning towards a large round formation of moss-covered rock which was built into the side of the riverbed. Judging from the height of the sides of the riverbed, if water was present, the surface would have barely covered it, so the top stood out, and looked a bit like a tiny island. Zuko stared at the rock, then moved his gaze to his sister.

"Yeah, a rock. So what?"

"You take a good look at a rock, standing in the middle of a river, which is shaped in a perfect hemisphere, and you say that?" Azula's eyes narrowed. "You really are as dim as you look."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Ugh." Azula rubbed her thumb and her index finger together, evidently irritated by Zuko's nonchalance. "I guess I'll have to spell it out for my poor little brother." She moved towards the rock, and peered into a crack which stretched down its side. "Look."

Zuko squinted down the crack, and almost fell down in surprise. There was a strange blue light coming from deep inside the rock, and outlined by the light, he could barely just see the silhouette of a head. Azula smirked at him. "Has it been hammered into your tiny mind yet?" Zuko nodded slowly. "There's someone inside there, Zuko."

"Then we'll have to get that someone out," Zuko gathered a tiny ball of fire in his hand, and launched it at the rock, a spark of excitement forming in his heart; but was quickly extinguished when the heat barely chipped off a bit of the rocks hard exterior. Azula almost laughed out loud.

"The least you could do is try a little harder."

"If you think its that easy then maybe you should try yourself." Zuko sneered, trying to focus on producing as much fire as he can in his palm for another blow.

Azula formed a spark of blue fire with her fingers, wincing as it extinguished seconds after with a soft gust of wind. "Remember? I'm just as good as you are."

Zuko gritted his teeth. Sometimes he wished Azula was as good as their father. But their father remained stoic, and refused to teach them any Firebending techniques, and barred them from any access to Firebending scrolls or Masters. Firebending was a very dangerous skill, he had said. He didn't want his children to learn the skill just to misuse it. At Zuko's insistence of the honing of the skill, he had launched a wave of fire at him, which almost singed his nose, and stopped him from asking anymore questions. Azula suspected their father was just scared of the two of them overthrowing him by Agni Kai, thus the banning of any Firebending techniques. Luckily their Uncle Iroh had managed to slip them a few moves in the brief moments he was back from fighting at Ba Sing Se. Lu Ten would have helped as well, if he was not dead.

Zuko managed to form a pretty decent piece of fire in the time he was thinking of this, and without hesitation, threw it towards the rock, aiming for the large crack, and successfully hitting his target. There was a huge flash of white light, which threw Azula and him backwards, their hands shielding their eyes from the glare. Zuko could barely see the crack on the side slowly grow, and through the light, he could just see the outline of a person in the shell of rock. Azula got up from her position where she was sprawled on her back, propping herself with one arm, and using the other to shield her eyes from the light. Zuko remained on his side. A pillar of light emitted from the top of the rock for a split second and the rest of the earth splintered away, revealing a large humped figure, then the sharper outline of a child. Zuko brought himself to his feet, and staggered towards the figure, shocked when he saw that instead of eyes, the boys oval eyes were more like beams of light, similar to the arrows of light on his forehead, arms and legs. Azula followed him, and her eyes flashed as the boy fell out of the air, and pushed Zuko forward, so the boy fell straight into his outstretched arms. The humped figure was in fact some fluffy beast, which had similar arrow markings on its cream fur. Its eyes were shut closed, and so were the boys. Azula raised her eyebrows.

"You don't see that every day."

"What should we do with him? Father wouldn't allow him to stay."

Azula scoffed, and without missing a beat, replied, "Since when did we follow what Father said?"

Meanwhile, a guard gawked at the sky, wondering what in the world, was that weird flash of light he had just seen. He later repeated the moment to his fellow guards, who laughed at him, and said that he had imagined it, and in the name of Agni, to stop insisting he hadn't.

Zuko shuffled into his quarters, the boy thrown over his shoulder. Azula stood outside, watching out for any guards. Zuko pulled out the velvet collapsible bed slash chair which stood by his own, and set the boy down there. He and Azula stood back, her hands on her hips, and a small smile playing across her lips. The boy was bald, and light blue tattoos stretched down his forehead, and wove around his hands and legs. His robes were simple; orange and yellow, with some sort of half-cape around his shoulders. His clothes were in no state of disrepair, which was surprising, considering he had been stuck in a rock. Zuko wondered how he even managed to get in there in the first place. "We'll have to get him into Fire Nation clothes. He's so painfully obvious in those colours" Azula muttered, fiddling with her perfectly manicured fingernails. "We wouldn't want Father to suspect anything. We could just say he was a new personal serving boy or something."

"Is that what you have in mind for him?" Zuko hissed.

"It wouldn't hurt to have one more." Azula shrugged.

"He fell out of a rock!"

"I like the tough ones. I don't have to fire them that way."

Zuko threw up his hands in despair. "Whatever. This kid's not going to become a serving boy for the Fire Nation."

"And why not?"

"Because I just…know."

"The last time you said that, Mother never got better."

Zuko resisted the strong urge to cry out and kick his sister out of the palace. She watched his expression with amusement.

"Zu-zu, if theres one thing for you to learn, you should learn not to take me seriously." She said with a devious grin.

He made no reply, and instead watched Azula pull out some clothes from his closet. She selected a simple tunic and pants, paired with red boots and a gold-and-black headband, and threw them up in a pile on Zuko's bed.

"He can wear that. The headband is to cover his arrow. Even the servants will be able to tell he's an imposter if they see it."

Zuko quickly pulled the oversized tunic over the boy's torso, and fitted the pants with a belt over the old ones. He replaced the brown boots with the red Fire Nation ones, but left the headband by the chair. "What about the beast?"

"We can't sneak that thing into the palace. We'll have to leave it there and hope it stays asleep."

"And that no one finds it?" Zuko suggested.

"And that. I wouldn't worry, little brother. That river is far away from the palace, and the guards are too lazy to even walk that far. It's the best hiding place for something so obvious."

"I would't even call it a hiding place. That thing is lying there in full view of anyone who comes past."

"Then thank the spirits that no one comes past!"

"Azula, you-"

Zuko was interrupted by a clang of metal against the floor just behind them, and the shout of surprise as the boy woke up. Azula rushed forwards, but was butted back by a wave of an unknown force. The boy's eyes were wide open, frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings, and the strange people and not to mention, clothes. Zuko advanced, arms brought up to and in front of his chest, palms facing forwards, in some sort of surrendering pose. The boy's hands trembled violently, and Zuko could see the droplets of sweat dripping down his temples from his position. He brandished a candlestick, waving it frantically in both of their faces.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" The boy demanded. "And where am I?" He added as an after note, and a short hesitation.

"I'm Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and she's Azula, the Princess," Zuko said slowly. "We found you buried in a…er…rock and brought you to the palace." Zuko took a step closer. "There's nothing to be afraid of. We won't hurt you." Azula appeared behind him, hair dishevelled from her harsh landing from the blow. The boy didn't seem impressed, but his hard gaze softened a bit. His grip on the candlestick loosened slightly, and his ramrod straight arms bent in a bit.

"Where's my staff?"

Zuko was stunned. "A staff? There was none." Azula pushed him away.

"It must be back at the riverbed, where we found you." She replied quickly.

"And my bison?" The boy continued.

Your what now? "That fluffy thing? It's still back there. We think…hope it's still asleep."

The boy sprang up from his chair, landing gently on the ground, which Zuko found slightly weird. "I need to go to him." He rushed towards the huge double doors, and was about to swing them open before Azula rushed in front of him.

"Hide your arrow first." She fastened the headband around the boy's forehead, much to his disgust.

"I don't want to hide my arrow." He tried to pull it off, but Azula was insistent.

"Do you want to see your animal or not?" said Azula. "If you do, you'd better wear this headband."

The boy pursed his lips, but conceded, and Azula cracked the door open wide enough to let all three out. The boy and the two Fire Nation royals quickly headed down the long hallways, with Azula leading the way. The boy's eyes were constantly darting back and forth, and his suspicion of the place grew with each quick step. Azula reached a side door, and ushered the both of them out. Zuko instantly recognized the large hill which would lead to the riverbed, and directed the boy there.

"It's through there."

The boy nodded, and suddenly, grasped Zuko and Azula's hands, positioning himself in a strange stance. "Hold on tight." The siblings hardly had any time to react before they were hurtling across the ground, their hair flipping in the wind, and within seconds, they came to a stop, at the crest of the hill. The boy let go of their hands, and offered no explanation, and instead ran with great speed towards the hunched beast, leaving Zuko and Azula to come up with their own explanation to the feat. Zuko regained his balance, and shared a puzzled stare with Azula, then followed the boy, who had uncovered a long staff which was buried under a thin layer of dust and splintered rocks. Zuko was struck even more speechless when the boy gave the staff a sharp shake, and it turned into some kind of glider.

For once, his sister said nothing as the boy launched himself into the air, using the glider to catch the wind and float about the sky. The boy landed lightly on his feet, and at that moment, the huge beast woke. The boy jumped at the animal, hugging the top of its large, furry head with his entire body. "Appa!" He said happily, "I've missed you!"

Azula recovered her ability to speak. "You definitely don't see that everyday."

And Zuko, for once, agreed.

 **First chapter is up! Hope you liked it ;-) I know Aang's suspicion and him attacking Zuko and Azula was a bit weird, since when he was discovered by Katara and Sokka, he was like "wanna go penguin sledding with me?" but honestly. How would you react if you wake up and Zuko and Azula are standing feet from you arguing?**

 **Tell me your thoughts in the review section. Chapter 1 is not much to go on, but please tell me what you think! Thank you so much, I love you all! Chapter 2 will be up soon.**

 **-Cass**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey hey, I'm back! if you haven't already noticed, I've been putting time stamps in the story, but they are not that important to note. If there was an important time skip, it would be mentioned in the actual story. I just put them there for reference (just in case ;-) )**

 **Enjoy this chapter! Thanks everyone for their very thoughtful reviews! c-:**

 **Becca-bug-01: Thank you! I hope you will enjoy it!**

 **. .Gallifrey: Yes, its very fun having angsty Zuko with Aang sometimes ;-) And about Azula, she's having a major part, but in the background. To be revealed (wink wink)**

 **Rivy: Thank you so much! I will definitely be giving more insight into the characters personalities and whereabouts, in fact its kind of addressed in this chapter.**

 **axel100: Thank you for your thoughtful review! I haven't seen those fics, so maybe I will check them out one day. I will definitely try to complete this fic, but it might take a while :-) I understand that the idea is not as original, but I hope the plot stands out instead.**

 **Sara Snow: Thank you tons xx I'm glad you like the characterisation, I thought it would be unrealistic if peoples personalities changed just because of a different group being the 'bad guys'. For example, I can't grapple with the idea of Azula being as kind and caring and selfless as Katara was in the original series.**

 **RickNash: Thank you! x I will keep that in mind; I've already got kind of a plan for those two ;-) It won't be a complete Zuko/Azula parallel, but perhaps something close.**

 **otpssssssssss: Thank you so much xx**

 **Oh and by the way, thank you to my friend Miku for helping me out with the plot!**

Chapter 2

100 AG, Summer

31st Day of the 7th Month

The girl and her brother were on a boat. It was a large one, armed with the water cannons which their people used often to battle, then defeat the other nations with. The Earth Kingdom's strongholds had crumbled under the sheer force of the concentrated blasts, and all that was left was the greatest of the great cities that lay untouched by her people's hands. Ba Sing Se. Here, they battled two elements, Earth, and then Fire. So every day they spent on this ship, was another day of unrelenting attacks from the combined forces. More warriors died each day, and this ship, filled with at least a hundred warriors and benders were basically the last hope for the invasion of Ba Sing Se, and they weren't even there yet. The girl tied back her long, dark hair into a quick ponytail, and fastened the necklace and pendant around her neck. Her brother was busying himself applying the war paint of a Water Tribe warrior, so she decided to avoid bothering him. Instead, she decided on practising her own set of skills. She shouted out an order for a filled satchel, and within moments, it arrived, delivered by a scared little serving boy. She sent him away with a sharp nod of her head, and he obliged almost immediately, running off to the dark crevasses where the servants loitered.

The girl shook the stray hairs out of her face, and focused on the satchel. She pushed the water out of it, and a split second later, bent the water in a lethal slash down through the air, freezing and unfreezing it to ensure the most damaging blow. She forced the element to splice into hundreds of tiny ice darts, focusing it on a certain point in front of her, imagining the cowering enemy kneeling there. She brought the ice back together into one, single piece, and melted it with a flick of her fingers, creeping it around her arms to form tentacle like formations around her arms. She froze the tips, and practised her aim, being sure to strike with the sharp ice ends, before bringing the water around her like armour, each punch from her arm extending the water surrounding it forward, knocking down the invisible enemy. Finally satisfied, she returned the water to its sheath, and fastened it around her waist. When her brother finally emerged from the below deck, and she almost laughed out loud.

"You look terrible!" She teased. "You look like an otter penguin."

Her brother frowned. She flicked some droplets of water at him, and he wiped them away tenderly, careful not to smudge his mask. His eyes were outlined with black, and his cheekbones, chin and jaw were painted white. The rest of his face was painted a soot grey, while he had accented his features by tracing triangles from his hairline to the space between his eyebrows, and two more accenting his chin. White paint which covered his eyebrows and curved around his eyes made him look a lot angrier than normal. He glanced at the reflection in his sword, and looked a little uneasy. The girl laughed.

"Don't worry, you look just like any other warrior." She gave him a tight hug, which he did not return, still a little suspicious of his sister's sudden change in opinions. She let go, and gave him a huge smile. "The enemies will get the fright of their life once they see you."

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a good or bad thing."

"Obviously it's good, they run for their lives."

The brother grimaced, and walked off with a flick of his hand. "Forget it, you're no help."

The sister laughed at his retreating figure, then returned to her waterbending. She continued her fierce manipulation of the water, and continued to strike out at her imaginary enemy.

The boy was now seated on top of the furry beast named Appa. His glider device was tucked by his side, and Zuko and his sister stood by the animal's front legs, looking up at the boy, who looked down with a wide smile.

"What are you going to do now?" said Zuko.

"I don't know. I guess to find the others." The boy replied.

"The others?" Azula said skeptically. "And who exactly are the others?"

"The other monks." The boy said happily. "Thanks for helping, though."

"Wait!" Zuko reached for the reins, stopping the boy from taking off with the Appa-beast. "Aren't you going to tell us who you are?"

The boy shifted uncomfortably. "I'm…Bumi."

Azula stifled a laugh. "Please, we're not dumb. The real King Bumi's in Omashu, picking up the pieces of his city after the Water Tribe siege."

The boy's jaw dropped. "But Bumi's twelve! How can he be ruling Omashu?"

Azula studied the tips of her fingers. "Have you been living under a rock or something? Bumi was twelve about a hundred years ago."

The boy remained silent, eyes wide with confusion. "Last I saw Bumi, he definitely was not King of Omashu. And he was definitely not a hundred and twelve."

"Deal with it kid. He is now." Azula's hands fell to her sides.

The boy's eyes started to narrow. "How long have I been in that rock?"

Zuko shrugged awkwardly. "We just discovered you a few hours ago."

"I could have sworn I was in there for around few weeks."

"Obviously you've been in there much longer." Azula drawled.

The boy ignored her tone. "I remember flying on Appa, flying to the Western Air Temple to continue my airbending-"

"Airbending?" Zuko half said, half shouted. "You're an airbender?"

The boy looked at Zuko strangely. "I can fly, have a sky bison, and just propelled you two from your palace to this place in a matter of seconds. Yes, I think I am an airbender."

"But that's impossible." Azula murmured.

"Why would it be?"

"Because-"

"Because Airbenders just don't end up in the Fire Nation. I wouldn't say our terms are exactly…friendly." Zuko interrupted. "It's just strange that someone dressed as inconspicuously as you were was able to wander into the Fire Nation and get so near the palace, of all places."

Azula shot him a withering look, but remained silent. The airbender nodded. "Then I would like to go back there. To the Eastern Air Temple. I want to see Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders."

"Don't you get it?" Azula said, obviously irritated at the airbenders ignorance. "You've been in there for at least a hundred years."

The airbender froze. "And why would you say that?" He said carefully.

"You said that last you saw King Bumi, he was twelve years old. But everyone knows that he's a hundred and twelve years of age as of this year. From that, we can say that you've been stuck in that rock for at least a hundred years."

The boy's gaze shifted downwards, but he looked up again, and smiled. "Well, nothing bad happened probably. All that matters, is I'm back, and I can go see the monks again."

"You're wrong there, buddy. The Water Tribe happened." Zuko replied.

The boy, who had told the two that his name was Aang, sat in stony silence as Zuko and Azula explained to him the happenings of the past hundred years. The Water Tribes had attacked the Northern Earth Kingdom towns and villages first, and slowly took control of the entire northern most part of the Earth Kingdom. For the time of a hundred years, the Water Tribe's combined forces (along with Earth Kingdom sympathisers) had taken over most of the Kingdom, leaving only small mountainous areas too hard to trek, and the greatest strongholds of all, Omashu and Ba Sing Se. The Fire Nation too had suffered multiple attacks, but they had been fended off as quickly as they came, with defences proving too strong for the Water Tribe warriors.

"Sometime's its good living near a volcano." Azula had remarked at that point in Zuko's explanation. "You can always spread rumours that it's active."

Now, with Ba Sing Se under siege, and Omashu weakening day by day, the Fire Nation was slowly retreating their troops to safeguard the capital, leaving only the infantries deepest in the fighting to battle their way out. The Air Nomads had stayed out of the fighting, and stayed in their temples, vowing only to emerge once the war was over, a vow which they had kept for a hundred years now - no one has seen a single Air Nomad in the last century. Zuko knew this part was somewhat a lie. The Air Nomads had not been seen in the last century, but they didn't exactly make a 'solemn vow' to stay secluded from the rest of the warring world. Zuko hadn't been born yet, but their grandfather Azulon remembered his own father, Fire Lord Sozin mentioning the whole genocide business when he was just a boy.

Zuko didn't like thinking about it, and meeting the last surviving Air Nomad definitely didn't help him in that matter. "And then we found you, Aang." The airbenders unfamiliar name felt somewhat strange on his tongue. "In a rock."

"And thanks for getting me out." Aang replied. "Look, I-" He broke off, looking a bit unsure. "Look, I've got something to tell you too."

Azula leaned forward, thinking that a kid that had been stuck in a rock for a hundred years would have something pretty interesting to say.

"I'm the Avatar."

"Oh?" Was all Zuko could manage. Azula's taunting expression turned cruel.

"The Avatar?" She said. "Then why have you been stuck in a rock when you should have been saving the world?"

Zuko was about to snap the same thing, but the Avatar nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry. Now I see the consequence of my actions." The Avatar said slowly. Zuko's eyes widened. It almost seemed like someone older, and wiser were speaking to them through Aang. Aang's eyes narrowed. "But I never caused this, so I don't have to fix it. It's not my problem anymore. I'll probably just go live with the monks and complete my training."

Azula was still seething. "How could you say that?" She shouted. "The world needs you more than ever!"

"The world created its own problems, and I'm not supposed to solve them! Now, who wants to go koi surfing?"

Azula made some angry noises while the boy excitedly explained his plans for koi surfing. Zuko gave her a shut up already! look, to which she replied. "This kid is hopeless!" Zuko glared at her.

"You're hopeless." Zuko turned to the boy. He looked at Azula. "If there's one thing I know about kids, you need to play to their interests."

"I know a place, called Ember Island. You can go koi surfing there."

Aang's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes. I'll come with you, and Az-"

"Azula, who is me, will stay behind and cover for Zu-zu here."

Aang looked excited. "Sounds good. I'll ready Appa."

Azula nodded. "Meet you here in an hour then."

A while later, Azula and Zuko were standing in front of Fire Lord Ozai, with Azula detailing Zuko's planned 'journey'.

"Zuko would like to travel the world right now, despite the war, Father. He feels it would be an enriching experience to see the chaos of fighting. Builds character, you see. He thinks he needs that now."

Zuko cut in here. "Father, it may sound strange, but I am conflicted. I feel confined in the palace. I need to go out and find myself through a long journey. I feel it will bring out a better Zuko in me. I have forgotten who I am."

Throughout this, Fire Lord Ozai was listening with a thoughtful look. "Interesting, very interesting, Zuko. I would like to allow you, but why should I let my eldest and only son go? You are the heir to the throne, and if something were to happen to me…"

"Azula is here to help you, Father. Her skills are absolute. She will be better than I ever can be." Zuko said bitingly.

Fire Lord Ozai thought for a moment. "Very well. Go if you must. When will you return?"

"I'm not sure."

"Then goodbye, my son. May we see each other again soon."

"Yes, soon."

Zuko walked back to Aang and Appa with his sister.

"What do you think you're doing?" Azula said.

"I'm going to convince the Avatar to save the world."

"Ah, Zu-zu, that's a pretty big statement. How do you know he will listen to you?"

"I'll figure it out somehow. But he has to learn."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

A little later, after the Fire Prince and the Avatar had hurtled into the sky, Azula would be standing in front of her father, explaining Zuko's departure in greater depth in a bored voice.

"Stupid Zu-zu," She would say. "Always listening to that half-wit Uncle. It's amazing what Uncle can do to people. He always had the greatest effect on our dead Zuko." Azula smirked nastily. "Zuko-kin's is unpredictable, Father. It doesn't surprise me for an instant that he would do this. Besides, he was probably scared that you would disagree and make him stay, when he wanted so badly to leave and find something to do with his boring life. That was probably why he asked so suddenly. In hopes of getting a 'yes'. And come to think of it, why he didn't give you time to consider. Good for our little Zu-Zu, really. Didn't know he was so dedicated to the Fire Nation to the point he would leave it to make him a better future Fire Lord."

That had left the Fire Lord somewhat satisfied.

"He should have said goodbye properly." The Fire Lord sneered at Azula.

"Ah, well. Zu-zu never was one for familial affection. Ever since Mother died."

 **Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Sorry if the whole conversation was a little abrupt. Don't forget to review ;-) Updates might not come as regularly as I am in my exam period right now, but I will try to catch up during the weekends.**

 **-Cass**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sara Snow: Thank you millions! xx**

 **Guest: Thank you for the review. I'm really glad you enjoyed the story so far, and I hope the rest lives up to your expectations. Of course there will be pairings, but I will only reveal them in due course ;)**

 **Crazyaboutto: Now, he doesn't. Maybe later.**

 **FearTheGhostKing: Yes, thank you for that! I couldn't find the line breaks, but I think they are back now, so there will be clearer separations when a change of perspective occurs.**

* * *

Chapter 3

100 AG, Summer

1st Day of the 8th Month

* * *

Aang and Zuko realised not long after they left the Fire Nation that they weren't the most suited travelling companions. While Zuko preferred constant preparation and hard work, Aang had the more laid-back personality, and upon arrival to the summer palace, Aang had immediately laid down by Appa and left out a deep sigh, only to be disturbed by Zuko, who was waving the scrolls in his face. "C'mon! Practice! You're the Avatar, remember?"

"Geez Zuko." Aang laughed. "It's been a few hours of flying! Appa and I are tired, we do need sleep you know."

"That's what the nights for!"

Aang stared glumly at the scrolls. "Just because I'm the Avatar doesn't mean I should be gearing up for a fight every minute, every hour!"

"Actually, it does." Zuko's eyes narrowed into slits.

Aang flopped back against Appa. "Too bad for you, this Avatar isn't like that." Aang snuck a peek at Zuko's flabbergasted face and sighed. "I just want to go koi surfing. But first, lets eat!"

Zuko started to argue about rationing, but gave up when he saw the determination in Aang's eyes as he reached for the satchel full of food. He pulled out the food, and pushed the sausage towards Zuko. He took the berries and bananas. Zuko raised an eyebrow. "You sure? Best Komodo sausage around?"

"Nah. Airbenders are vegetarian." Aang said nonchalantly, biting into the banana. "We bake amazing fruit pies though. Mmmm…they were delicious." He tossed the rest of banana to Appa.

Zuko shrugged. "Your loss." He gnawed on the sausage, selfishly relieved he didn't have share the delicacy.

"Tell you what? Right after this lets go to the Northern Air Temple! And you can try our pies." Aang looked up at the sky, as if he was daydreaming about those pies. They must've been good.

Zuko shook his head. "How about we go down along the coast? We can stop by the villages then move up along the Earth Kingdom. We'll stop by the Air Temples on the way." I'd better come up with excuses later, when the time comes.

Aang shrugged. "I suppose. It always wanted to travel the world. I guess it's the scenic route back home."

Zuko rolled his eyes.

* * *

The thing about war is that you find that it brings out the best in people, as much as it brings out the worst. These were the thoughts of Hyun Jin as she sat in a crossed-legged position on a simply-woven mat. She thought about the Fire Lord. No, not that Fire Lord. She thought about Fire Lord Sozin. He lifted his head a little and gazed at the table which was set with a simple candle and a wooden statue which was fashioned into the likes of that certain Fire Lord. She bowed slowly, arms stretched in front of his head, his hands next to each other and parallel to the ground, pressing his palms to the ground, then rose.

She looked calmly at Fire Lord Sozin's jaggedly carved eyes. She noted the absence of the Royal hair-clasp which had been bequeathed to the Fire Lord years ago. Her thoughts raced. Was in it the spirit of friendship, and not so much the terrors of war that had managed to bring such a drastic to that certain Fire Lord? She smiled softly, and stood up gracefully, smoothing her robes with the chapped palms of her hands.

She started to rethink her theory. The thing about war was that it always reminded us of the things we had, the people we loved, the relationships we treasured, the things that were yet to be lost, and that our future was blurred, and you had to fight to get a clearer picture.

* * *

100 AG, Summer

1st Day of the 8th Month

Katara was extremely bored. Sailing from the Southern Water Tribe to Ba Sing Se _was_ extremely boring. There were no ships to sink, no soldiers to defeat - they were either around Ba Sing Se, or docked in the Fire Nation (since the only ships that they had ever seen around these parts were Fire Nation). She turned to find her father - he had yet to tell her and Sokka the plan of attack. The door to below deck was flung open just seconds before her hands closed around the handle, and she jumped back, staring up at Chief Hakoda, her father.

"Chief!" The crewmen bowed quickly, and continued their work when Hakoda nodded absent-mindedly at them.

"Father." Katara said smoothly, bowing down in a quick, fluid motion - much unlike the clumsy bowing that the crew often performed.

"My daughter." He smiled down at her. "Come."

Katara followed him below deck, where he led her through a labyrinth of corridors and doors, until finally he stopped outside a particularly ornate one. The door swung open, and Lieutenant Arrluk met them with a long, hard stare before letting them through. Katara had always felt scared of Arrluk. With sharp features, a protruding forehead which shadowed his eyes, and a long scar which wound from his right temple to the middle of his neck, he was the very picture of intimidating. But, he did the job. His forces, no matter how small, were always…invigorated by his presence, and under his expert command, they would often dominate the battlefield. He and his most elite legion of a hundred fighters were accompanying them on the ship to support the Ba Sing Se siege efforts, which had come to no avail. The General on the other side of the wall had slowly been strengthening the inner war using Earthbending, according to the lookouts. With a garrison of powerful Earthbenders expanding the walls width, and the Earth and Fire soldiers were slowly clearing the area around the inner wall, forming makeshift walls with combined forces. There was also a rumour of a lavabender. Too bad the Water Tribe had Arrluk.

The Lieutenant led them into the room, which was simply furnished, with a simple square table in the middle, upon which was a large map of Ba Sing Se and the surrounding land and coast line. Hakoda sat in a chair which was at the opposite end of Arrluk's. Katara joined Sokka on a simple bench which was pushed against the wall, just below a small rounded window.

"Hello Chief, Lieutenant." A man slipped through the door, and emerged from the shadows. He turned to the siblings. A smile formed on his features. "Katara, Sokka."

"Bato." Hakoda said cheerfully. "Come and join us. Your advice would be greatly appreciated."

A dark look crossed Bato's face and he shook his head. "No, I would rather sit and watch." Hakoda raised his eyebrows. "In silence."Bato added.

"Lieunenant, whenever you're ready."

Katara leaned forward, peering intently at the map. Arrluk's hand traced the current path of their ship, and slammed a finger down on a makeshift port which was nestled into a rounded cliffside that their allies had set up previously. "If our calculations are correct, we arrive at dusk and dock here, then regroup with the others to set up camp. At dawn, we march on Ba Sing Se. My guess is that they concentrate soldiers on the north-east side of the wall, which is where our current forces are stationed. We split the forces, one to four. The smaller group will support the north-eastern side, while the rest will circle around against the inner wall and attack from the south-west."

"How will we enter Ba Sing Se from there?" Katara interjected. "We have only breached the outer wall, not the inner."

Arrluk smiled. "Thank you, Katara. I'm glad you asked that." Katara felt a chill go down her spine. "You will find that we have too many allies to count, if we just tried to find them. Even if it uses a little bit of…persuasion. We…no, I have recruited a few powerful Earthbenders from around the Earth Kingdom. We will use them to bore a hole through the ground and under the inner wall, and emerge on the other side, surprising the Earth Kingdom forces, and subsequently defeating them. Ba Sing Se will be ours by evening, and the six-hundred-day siege of Ba Sing Se will be over." Arrluk finished proudly.

Bato shared a skeptical look with Hakoda, and the Chief voiced his and Bato's shared concerns. "And how do we know these Earthbenders are loyal? Who's to say they will carry out their duties gladly, and assist us in defeating their Kingdom's greatest city?"

"To human nature, money is a much stronger weapon than you think, Chief Hakoda." Arrluk said quietly. "Besides, people's loyalty often lies to themselves rather than to others, more often than not. These are the most ruthless mercenaries that are round here. Emotionless fighters with a heart of stone which feels no pity, and a brain with one setting - to fight, and to win, and the reap the rewards."

Sokka shifted uncomfortably, and Katara couldn't help but felt a lot more skeptical of this plan than before she asked the question. But Hakoda looked pleased. "Good work, Lieunenant."

"Anything for the victory and honour of our Tribe."

Honour.

The word repeated in Sokka's mind after the meeting. What was honour for the Water Tribe? He had seen the atrocities of war. Were they honourable? Surely the Water Tribe had changed the world, by sharing the benefits of water bending with the other nations. Healing - such a precious commodity, previously only accessible in the Tribes, but now available everywhere…if you looked hard enough. And they had shared with so many the great stories of the Water Tribes, the rare delicacies, the wonder of Tui and La? Honour? Weren't their intentions honourable? They wanted Ba Sing Se, a hub of the world, so they could further expand their reach of Water Tribe influence. Healing! Surely the healing aspect of water bending was a precious commodity, to be shared with the world. Was there not honour in that? He had seen the happy villagers, smiling as their escort passed through their streets. But he also saw the dullness in their eyes, the calluses on their hands and feet. He had seen the rags, but he had seen the silks and velvets too. He had seen so many things, he didn't know what was true and what wasn't.

But surely, this war was because of the Water Tribe's decision to share its wonders with the rest of the world, rather than the greedy need for more land, for more power, for the title of having Dominion Over The World. But Father…he'd never do that. He loved his Tribe and wanted to share it with the world. He never wanted to be the one supreme leader. He was his father. He loved Sokka and Katara and Mother. Surely he was content with them always supporting him, loving him, being there for him.

He started to think of the women back in the south, sleeping without their husbands, and the young children, running to their mothers to teach them to fish and hunt instead of their fathers, because they weren't there. He thought about Mother, sitting alone in their home, cooking and cleaning and sewing, and constantly looking up at every noise, if only it meant that her family was coming back home. But they were fighting, away fighting, hungry for victory and holding honour in their hearts.

Then he looked at the wooden ship with the soldiers laughing and smiling and chatting and looking out on the horizon and he felt at ease. No one was worried, so why should he be? He looked at Katara, practicing her water gimbal, and Father, practicing swordplay against Bato. These are men (and a woman) with honour, who fight for their Tribe, and not for themselves.

Then he looks at Arrnuk and sees nothing.

Well, nothing good, anyways.

* * *

"Hngh!" Zuko punched forwards, releasing a short, but rather large spout of fire from his knuckles. Fervent clapping came from his right side.

"Good job Zuko!" Aang said happily, still wet from the koi surfing just now. "That's the fifth time this afternoon. Two more and you'll have three in a row!"

"Thanks." Zuko grumbled. "Very encouraging."

He repeated the punch repeatedly, letting out a few considerable smaller and shorter squirts of flame, then delivered a final push using his leg, which produced a much larger flame, while burned for a few seconds longer then normal. Now, Aang was on his feet, running over to Zuko. He grasped Zuko by the shoulders and shook his happily. "Yes Zuko! You did it!"

Zuko looked sheepish. "I still need a Master."

"Yes, you should. If we want to travel around, you should have learn some basic defence."

"And offense." Zuko added.

Aang cringed. Zuko had guessed he wasn't much of a fighter. "So, any idea where we can find a Master for you?" Aang asked.

"I've heard of a few." He said. "But they're all too far away. It'll be at most a week of flying."

"Then thats out of the question." Aang shook his head. He glanced at Appa. "What are we gonna do now, bud? …Wait a minute. Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

"Appa is a flying bison, and they're the original airbenders. The monks told me a stories of how an airbender learnt airbending techniques from his bison."

"And?"

"Bison are the original airbenders! Maybe you could learn firebending from the original fire benders?"

"Oh. That's not possible."

"Why?"

"My uncle. He killed the last dragon."

Aang's eyes widened. "I've really been away for a long time, haven't I?"

Zuko looked a little sad. "Yes. You have."

"But there's still a chance!" Aang declared, and Zuko felt like smacking him. Spirits, this kid doesn't give up. Well, anything to keep him away from the Air Temples.

"Huh. Well, if you must, we should go to the Sun Warrior's city to find them. That's where Uncle when to find the dragon."

"Then, that's where we're heading." Aang said, already perched on Appa's back. "Time to find Zuko a Firebending Master!" He said dramatically. "Then we can go diving!"

Zuko grabbed the satchel, and clambered onto Appa's back.

Yip yip.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter! So sorry for updating so slow, I had to catch up with some revision. My exams are over (finally) so I will be able to focus a bit more on this fanfic. I hope the little philosophical part in the middle about Hyun Jin wasn't too cheesy, and I really hope that Sokka's angst is not cringe-worthy. And I hope you like my OC, Lieutenant Arrluk. I am really looking forwards to playing around with him and showing y'all a bit more of his character.**

 **-Cass**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **-/-**

100 AG, Summer

1st Day of the 8th Month

Azula sat perched on the shelf, chin resting on her balled up fist. Admiral Zhao was inside discussing plans for the Water Tribe with the Father Lord, and she was outside waiting and wondering _how in the name of Vaatu did they not have the forces to defeat the Water Tribe?_ She couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the _Water Tribe_ was beating the other three nations senseless. And she thought that the Fire Nation had always been the strongest. Guess it was the Water Tribes now.

She was knocked out of her thoughts by a loud crash, followed by muffled shouting. Was that smoke she could smell too? _Damn door._ Moments later, Zhao stormed out of the room, and Fire Lord Ozai followed after, expressionless. He looked to his side, and saw Azula sitting there. He sighed.

"Did you hear all that?" He said, a tinge of annoyance in his tone.

"Yes, Father." Azula lied. "Care to explain what it was about?"

Ozai slipped into the room silently, and Azula took that as a _yes_. She was only slightly surprised at what she saw. The table which was usually in the middle of the room had been knocked over, and the surrounding furniture had been charred quite badly. A burnt map sat on the ground. Azula could barely see the markings that were supposed to mark out attack plans, until Zhao set fire to the place.

"He didn't agree with your plan, Father."

"Obviously." He said stiffly.

"Make him pay."

The Fire Lord sat down in his ornate chair (which was miraculously unburnt) "Azula, there is much you don't understand. Perhaps you should have gone with your brother to reform yourself. _Then I would get two children who were actually worthwhile_."

"We wouldn't be useless if you wouldn't teach us firebending!" Azula shot back. "Oh, but you won't, because you're too scared of your _seventeen_ year old son and _fifteen_ year old daughter taking your throne from you!" She said sarcastically.

"Azula." Ozai said carefully. "Admiral Zhao will not be dealt with. And if I were going to, I would decide myself on how so, not my daughter."

"Fine, fine." Azula drawled. "But what was it Zhao was so upset about anyways?"

"We Firebenders must take the offensive against the Water Tribe, according to Admiral Zhao. Yet our troops are tired from the Battle of Omashu, and half of them are left at Ba Sing Se. And-"

"Without our men at top fighting capacity, it would be a suicide mission." Azula finished. She flashed a smile at her father.

"You will _not_ interrupt me again, Azula." He stared intently at her with fiery gold eyes, his thin lips set in a straight line. Azula knew this look. She had pushed him past his limit.

"Yes father." Another lie. Ha, he had no idea how many lies she had told in the past few days, and they weren't all spoken to him.

"I agree with him. The Fire Nation will not look weak in the face of an enemy. The Tribes had retreated from Omashu for a few weeks now; the wounded are healing, the dead are buried. We have a war on our hands, and the Fire Nation will not lose. Azula, I need you to bring in our most talented engineers. It's time to meet water with fire, and we know what happens to water under heat."

 **-/-**

100 AG

2nd Day of the 8th Month

Zuko and Aang had arrived the day before, but late into the night, so they had both fallen asleep on Appa, both equally exhausted. The next morning, when Aang woke up with a start, and immediately noticed the lack of fur underneath him.

"Appa? Appa! Appa, boy, where are you? Appa! Appa! APPA!"

Zuko awoke with a start. "Huh…"

Aang rushed to his side. "Appa's _missing_! Zuko!"

But Zuko wasn't listening. He slowly got to his feet, and stared at the room which they were in. "Woah." They were in a huge, square room, which was in laid with gold-and-red wallpapers and embellished with even more gold. They were lying in a middle of a circle, which was patterned with something like a flower, and around them were a series of statues which stood on top of a stand curved into an incomplete 'o' shape From the looks of it, there were two sides, and each side was perfectly symmetrical. Aang walked over to a plaque which was fastened to the stand.

"It says that this is the Dancing Dragon form."

Zuko stood in the middle with his arms crossed, looking around, while Aang mimicked the movements. He felt his foot move downwards, and a soft click, and he realised that copying the position, they triggered the pads to unlock…something. He rushed over to Zuko, and grabbed him by the arm.

"Zuko! Dance with me."

"Wait, _what_ with you?"

"Dance with me!" Aang dragged the Fire Prince over to the other side of the circle and pointed at the statue. "Just copy whatever the statues do." Aang got into position on his side. "Okay, on the count of three. One…two…three!"

The duo moved their way down and around the circle fluidly, adapting to the movements as if it were something that they always knew, only that they had forgotten it for a while. Aang felt a rush of adrenaline as he rounded the side to move towards the end, to finish with a cool looking twist, according to the statues. He felt both his fists meet with Zuko's, and heard a final _click_ , and a sound that could only be metal moving against metal. Zuko and Aang turned to see a pedestal emerge from the ground, with a golden, shiny, egg-light object seated in the middle. Zuko moved forwards, arms outstretched, enchanted by the raw beauty of the object (Aang as well). Zuko was just about to grasp the object when there was a flash of fire, and Aang pushed Zuko back with a slash of his staff, the fire singing the edges of their clothes.

"Stop! And stay away from the Sunstone."

Aang could see the silhouette of a man behind the wall of fire which blocked the Sunstone from view.

"What do you want here?" The man behind the fire wall boomed.

"I'm looking for a Firebending Master's to teach me Firebending." Zuko said simply. No point lying with a wall of fire an arms-length away.

"Then you have found them. But whether you are worthy or not, remains to be seen. Who are you?"

"I'm the Avatar, and my friend is Prince Zuko." Aang replied.

"Prince Zuko?" The man laughed. "I know your family. Your fire comes from your hunger for the power and destruction it brings."

Aang was slightly puzzled at this remark – _destruction?_ Zuko remained silent at this remark.

"And the Avatar?" Aang could feel the man's hard stare through the fire wall. "You, you do not know firebending. You have fire, that is for sure, but whether you can bend it, that remains to be seen."

Zuko stepped forward confidently, ignoring the sweltering heat of fire wall. "Then I suppose you know why I'm, _we're_ here." Aang looked a little flustered at this. "To learn to use our inner fire."

"A Crown Prince of the _Fire Nation_ surely doesn't need our help, nor would he possibly be worthy of it." The man scoffed.

"Personality is not hereditary, sir." Zuko said stiffly. "I humbly ask of you to accept me as your students to learn the ways of firebending."

The man did not reply, so Zuko ventured on nervously. "I'm assuming you will be our masters?" He paused for a moment, before continuing. "If you agree, that is."

"No. We are merely the Master's esteemed…protectors." The man said slowly. "And it is up to them to approve of you."

There was some hushed conversations behind the wall of fire.

"We will take you to the Masters, where you will face their judgement. If they agree, you will be trained by us. If they do not, however, you will die."

Aang and Zuko winced, but both shared the same exact determined look. They nodded.

The wall was brought down in a flash of orange flame, and Aang and Zuko almost doubled back in surprise. There was a large group of people standing on the other side, covered in yellow and red paint, and dressed in an interesting assortment of clothing. Many of them wore golden earrings and simple headbands wrapped around their foreheads, the men in knee-length red of white loincloths and the women in red chest wrappings, and a longer loincloths, down to the middle of their thighs. Many of them had large, heavy-looking gold collars (which stretched across their shoulder blades and just below their collarbones) that were covered in simple gold engravings. They had long, silky black hair, some styled in a high ponytail, while some had it cut into a mohawk. The man who had talked to them was standing in front of the group, wearing similar clothing, except with a more elaborate headdress which had huge white feathers coming out from the band – the only sign of any rank superiority. Other than that, and his aura of power that set him apart from the others, there was nothing very special about the man. Zuko's attention shifted from their appearances to figuring out _who in the name of Agni had just agreed to bring them to the 'Masters'._ Zuko started to wonder what they were thinking, coming here in the first place.

The man turned and walked through the crowd of people, who parted to make way for him. Zuko and Aang followed. Zuko bent down and whispered.

"Aang, any idea who they are?"

"Sir, might I ask, but who are you and your people?" Aang said loudly, flashing a grin at Zuko.

Zuko gritted his teeth. _Spirits, the Avatar is the most naïve kid I've ever know – I would have thought he knew who they were, otherwise why would he agree?_ Zuko's fingernails dug into his palms in frustration. 09

The man's eyes narrowed. "We are the Sun Warriors."

Zuko gawped. "What? The _Sun Warriors?_ " Aang just seemed mesmerized.

"Yes, the Sun Warriors, Prince Zuko. Why, thought that every Firebender is corrupted by your family's evil?"

Aang remembered the comment the Chief had made earlier, about the destruction that the Fire Nation brought, and now the Fire Nation royals were evil? And he thought that the Water Tribe were the bad guys here. The Avatar made a mental note to grill Zuko about this afterwards, if there was going to be an afterwards.

Zuko didn't even flinch. "No, I just thought you were legends. Words on paper. My Uncle…" Zuko trailed off here, a hand circling his other wrist nervously.

"Ah, well praises to the spirits that most legends are not completely untrue." There was a sly sparkle in the Chief's eyes now.

"Uh, yes. A relief."

Aang's gaze switched from Zuko to the Chief. "Where are these Masters that you protect?" Now he was genuinely interested.

The Chief pointed vaguely in the direction of a cluster of mountains. "They move around, but they mostly always are in the same place when strangers come for a Judging."

"What will happen?"

"Simple. They will look into your heart and measure your worthiness to learn the secrets of Firebending."

"They must be very strict Masters then." Aang mused.

"The best of the best."

They continued along a path, before stopping in front of a huge fire which was contained within a huge metal dish. The Chief took a part of the fire in his hands, and split it, giving one to each of the benders. "Bring this to the Masters and present it to them as a symbol of offering and a show of respect. Do not let it go out. Even I do not know what would happen if it did."

They were then led to a large stone gorge, where there were a huge flight of steps leading up to a stone bridge suspended between two similar mountains. On each side of the bridge there were two caves, which were completely covered in dark shadows. A circle of Sun Warriors around the clearing bent fire in a spinning circle, others beat loud drums, and others bowed down before the flight of steps fervently, as if worshiping an almighty God. Aang was the first to step onto the stairs, and Zuko followed quickly after, gently cradling his flame in his hands. Honestly, it was a lot easier controlling a flame that was given to him, rather than a flame he had produced himself. If just seemed a lot steadier, and stronger. Aang, on the other hand, had strugged to maintain a decently sized flame. His flame had almost extinguished a few times previously, and when it hadn't been a miniscule dash of light, it had been a huge, flaming beast, at which Aang would scream and shout and almost extinguish it from shock. After a few moments, and a few pointers from Zuko, Aang had managed to maintain a decent, if not a bit on the small size, flame, which was good enough, in Zuko's opinion.

They had reached the middle of the steps now. Zuko was repeating Uncle's hushed lessons in his head. _Fuel the fire with your inner heat. Use your chi to control and bend it. Stances and moves must be powerful, hard, strong. Be firm, do not hesitate. Hesitation and doubt will only weaken the flame, while anger, hatred, violence fans it into a blazing fire. Find balance between the two opposites. Stay strong, but calm. Stay firm, but not in your anger. Use your inner fire as a fuel, not your hatred. Firebend because you have felt and need love, not because you felt and need hate._ There had been more to the lesson, but Zuko could barely remember what was said, it was so long ago.

They had reached the top. Zuko's flame was still moderately strong, thanks to Uncle, and Aang's was alright, he supposed, considering that the Avatar only ever learned Airbending. The louding booming from the drums were considerably louder now, and there was a soft chanting coming from the gathered Warriors. Zuko and Aang stood back to back, staring at the dark entrance of the cave before them, presenting their flame, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Zuko, I didn't want to do this! I just wanted to go koi surfing!"

"Shut up, Aang. You're the Avatar, you'll have the learn firebending one way or another."

"But I don't want to _be_ -"

Nothing could have prepared them for what was going to happen next.

Two dragons, one blue and one red, burst from the two entrances, and started to loop around the bridge and stairs, dancing in a beautiful formation, endless, perfect, graceful, and…wait. Dragons? Zuko's shock had quickly escalated to despair when he realized that his flame had disappeared upon the two dragons appearances. Aangs too – he could see the Airbenders hands hanging limply in front of Aang, as he gaped at the two mythical, and supposed-to-be-extinct Firebenders.

Zuko almost expected the dragons to stop their looping and burn them to a crisp, but they did not – they just kept dancing.

"Zuko." Aang nudged Zuko in the ribs. "Any ideas on why the dragons are dancing?"

Zuko shrugged, more nervous than intrigued. "Don't know."

Aang was silent for a moment, then he shook Zuko's arm fiercely. "Zuko, they want us to dance with them."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, but he saw the Avatar's point. The dragons were dancing, and they _had_ learned the –

"Dancing Dragon formation." Aang said quickly. "Quick Zuko, just dance with me one last time."

Zuko tried to scrape together the memories of the formation, and as it came back to him, it came to his naturally, as if he always knew the ancient forms. Like they were second nature to him. His fists came into contact with Aang's and they stopped, eyes widening as the two dragons landed on either side of the bridge, their gold eyes pinned on them. It felt as if they were looking right into their souls, and seeing things within them even either of they actually knew was there. Like they were being turned inside and out, probed and prodded. Like their mind was a bookshelf, waiting to be read.

Then the dragon's presence in them was gone, and all that was left was their intimidating molten gold stare. Then a whirl of colour formed around them, filled with gold, red, green, blue, every colour imaginable. There was a certain heat coming from it, like it was fire, but it couldn't possibly be it. How could fire, the very epitome of power, be so beautiful, so entrancing. Aang tried to think of one person who looked into the flames of a firebender and thought them pretty. Then he understood, as did Zuko, who at that moment remembered Uncle Iroh's last part of his lesson, spoken in front of three eager young children yet to have known the world outside which would make their power necessary. For now, Uncle Iroh had thought, give them the truth, the warm, kind, truth which no one thougth was true.

"Little ones, remember this, and do not forget: No matter what people say, or what they ever will say, never forget that fire is life. Fire is life. Where there is fire, there is always a great deal of life nearby."

Aang nudged Zuko in the ribs. "Okay. Maybe I might just want to learn a little bit."

 **-/-**

The Water Tribe girl could just see the sliver of land which signalled their arrival at Ba Sing Se. She could practically see the victory, as well.

 **-/-**

 **Hope you liked this chapter. Please review and share your thoughts on the fic so far. Next chapter will come soon.**

 **-Cass**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lieutenant Arrluk had been drilling the troops when land had been sighted. As per normal, he had arranged the soldiers in accordance to their important in the imminent battle. The Earthbenders were right in front, the Waterbenders right behind, and the non-benders right at the back. He always knew the prejudice and what some would say, _unfairness_ , of his ways, but who really cared, if they won the battle in the end? He'd say that a victory is much more precious than what was done to achieve that victory.

No one had asked questions so far, maybe because they were scared. Of the battle? Yes, probably. But of him? Oh, definitely.

He had revised the plan again with the troops, highlighting the important points of the operation with such ferocity that he could literally see the soldiers' unease. " _The Earthbenders will tunnel under the wall, bending the Earth into a tunnel leading straight…here._ Arrluk had slammed his finger to a tiny point on the map of Ba Sing Se. _It's a small guard outpost, with only a few benders standing guard. From there, we will split ground and cover the whole north-east section of the inner wall. Earthbenders will rendezvous at this point after it has been secured, and they will blast a tunnel underneath the inner wall and to where are troops are stationed. From there, we will infiltrate the city and capture the Earth Queen. An elite squad will be sent to the palace for the capture."_ Arrluk had glanced at the small group of agents that had been sitting quietly in shadows by his right.

 _"Long Feng and his Dai Li Agents will be in charge of the capturing, and imprisonment of the Earth Queen."_ At this, the said Long Feng had stood up, and bowed deeply to Arrluk.

 _"We are honored to be part of this operation. The Dai Li and I are loyal to you and your cause."_ Arrluk had noticed a young girl in the group of Earthbender's shift uncomfortably. _"Best of wishes to the rest of you. The Dai Li are focused on our aim. Any help requested will not be delivered."_ More uncomfortable shifting.

Arrluk was brought out of his musing by the loud slam of door against wood. He and the others looked to the source of the noise, and all got to their feet when Chief Hakoda and his two children entered.

Katara looked around the room. There was nothing especially unusual about the setting, just that she could see all the Water Tribe warriors behind the green-clad Earthbenders. She narrowed her eyes at them, noting the blue sash that they had been given to signify their allegiance to the Tribes. The Water Tribe insignia was stitched into it. Arrluk was already in battle uniform – the usual lieutenant garb, a simple blue tunic covered in silver-and-black armor strapped with metal brackets, and fitted, lighter blue pants, completed with knee and elbow guards, and armored boots. His wolf-style helmet was on a chair next to him. She rolled her eyes at Arrluks dramatic hairstyle – a braided abomination tied back and rolled into a bun, the sides sheared short so there was only a short layer of hair on either side of his head. He had outlined the area around his eyes, chin and cheeks with white paint, but had painstakingly traced a thin line over and under his eyes. Sure, he did indeed look menacing, but _still._ She did know him, and seeing the terrifying man in such elaborate hairstyle and makeup was slightly amusing.

Sokka nudged her in the ribs, grinning. She grinned back. She and Sokka both knew what the other was thinking about. Their father bowed to the group.

"May honor be upon you, soldiers. Ba Sing Se will fall at our attack, and the greatest stronghold in the Earth Kingdom will fall! Tui and La bless us."

"Tui and La guide us." Came the customary reply. Katara supposed that they could have sounded a little bit less lackluster.

"You are dismissed. We prepare for our arrival in," The Lieutenant looked at the Chief.

"Half an hour." Hakoda finished. "Stand in formation upon our arrival and disperse into your respective bunks at the camp. If there are insufficient sleeping quarters, there are tents and beds available on the boat for you."

"Yes, Chief Hakoda. Yes, Lieutenant Arrluk."

The soldiers slowly started to filter out of the room, leaving Arrluk, Hakoda, Katara and Sokka alone in the room. Hakoda sent a smile in the Lieutenant's direction. "Good job Arrluk. I thank the spirits for your strong presence."

Arrluk bowed deeply. "I humbly return the compliment." He said sharply.

Katara and Sokka bowed slightly – the children of a Chief were not required to bow to anyone below them – while Hakoda did not. "Clear your mind Lieutenant, a great battle is upon us."

"That has already been done. As I previously said – anything for the glory and the honor of the Water Tribes."

Later on, Sokka stood at the hull of a ship, staring at the slowly approaching sliver of land that they were heading towards. Lieutenant Arrluk was on his mind. He didn't know why, just the way the man acted, the way he talked, what he said…and the gleam in his eye when he said his famous mantra. It was terrifying. When he said he'd do anything, Sokka got the creeping feeling he would do _anything_. He started drawing up the worst things that Arrluk could possibly do for the glory and honor of the Water Tribe, and started to think that the things would do the exact opposite.

Once again, his thoughts shifted to himself. What would he do for the glory and honor of the Water Tribe? And why would he do it? Surely the Water Tribe's had a good reason for anything for whatever they had done – if anything was dishonorable, he would know, since all plans were shared with the Southern Water Tribe's son.

"Ugh!" Sokka threw his hands up in the air and buried his face in his palms. "What is _wrong_ with me?"

"You don't seem so good." Came a voice. Sokka looked around, startled, then his eyes landed on the girl standing next to him, who was smiling mischievously. Her eyes were hidden by a mane of black hair.

"Yeah, I guess I don't." Sokka pursed his lips. The girl was wearing traditional Earth Kingdom garb – a wraparound cream tunic which stretched down to her knees and split from her thigh onwards, a pair of simple green pants, and a heavy looking leather belt studded with metal. Her sleeves were split and tied together at her elbows, and her arms were covered in simple white wrappings and on her wrist, a thick black bracelet, similar in style to her belt. Her black hair was tied back in a braided bun, which was secured by a green-and-white headband. A long, unruly fringe shielded her eyes from view.

The girl remained silent at his remark. Sokka suddenly felt awkward. "So…you're one of those Earthbenders."

"Yeah, got a problem with that?"

"I don't know, would have thought you'd have been a guy."

A fist barely missed his cheek. "Watch what you're saying, idiot! Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm hopeless!"

Sokka raised his arms in surrender. "Okay, I'm sorry! I guess, I would have thought you'd be younger."

The girl lowered her fist. "Fair enough, but rich coming from another kid's mouth."

Sokka almost didn't feel like talking to his girl, who obviously would shoot a snarky remark back at him every time he said something. "Just so you know, I'm almost eighteen, so I'm not going to be a kid any longer."

"Liar. You're ages away from eighteen. Your voice betrays you, pretty-boy."

Sokka's hand flew to his face. "Fine. I'm sixteen, but I'm getting close! Argh, I almost don't feel like talking to you right now!"

"Whatever. Then why are you still here?"

Sokka made to march away angrily, but the girl grabbed his arm. "Look, I'm sorry. I just tend to act a lot rougher and stuff nowadays, because of…things."

Sokka shrugged, and returned to his previous position by the girl. "So, you're one of those Earthbenders Lieutenant Arrluk hired.

"Yep."

Sokka said casually. "But won't you feel bad fighting against your own people? Lieutenant must have paid you tons of money to convince you to join us." He got a bit flustered after that, cursing his own tongue.

"We're full of surprises."

"And I thought Earth Kingdom people were the most stubborn."

The girl smirked. "We are."

"I'm Sokka, by the way."

The girl's face shifted towards him. Another smirk formed on her lips. "As if I didn't know, Sokka."

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"

"I don't think that's necessary." Her face turned to him, and her fringe shifted slightly to the side.

"C'mon, Miss Mystery, you can't avoid it for-" Sokka stopped, noticing the milky green underneath the fringe. Her eyes. "Are-are you _blind?"_

The girl blew the hair away from her face. Sokka got a full view of her milky green eyes. "Yes, I am. What difference does it make?"

"Uh, _a lot_ of difference?"

"Not to me."

Sokka stared at her, feeling slightly intrigued. There was something about this girl that he couldn't read, not in the Lieutenant Arrluk kind of way, but a nicer version of him, like Bato when he fell silent and his thoughts formed creases in his forehead.

"I may be blind, but I can _feel_ you staring at me, you dingus." The girl delivered a casual jab in the ribs.

"Ouch! Sorry, sorry."

"S'okay. Just don't worry about it. I learnt a long time ago to accept myself. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without my blindness. I don't really care about it that much."

"Fine, if that's what makes you happy." Sokka tore his eyes from her milky ones. "So…what's your-"

"Toph. It's Toph." The girl smiled widely at him for a moment, before her mouth relapsed into the customary smirk.

"Toph." Sokka repeated her name, and felt strangely familiar with it. "Hello, Toph."

"Hello, Sokka."

Sokka was about to reply when Lieutenant Arrluk and his father emerged from below deck, and Arrluk shouted for formation. The girl- Toph, she grabbed Sokka's arm, nodding towards the sound of Arrluk's voice.

"This seems stupid, but can you lead me over to the other Earthbenders? I stand right on the end, next to the big fat one with four teeth."

Sokka was startled by the sudden contact. "Uh, alright."

"Thanks."

Katara narrowed her eyes at the sight of Sokka leading an Earthbender from the front of the ship to where they were. Since when did Sokka ever talk to an Earthbender? Obviously they were comfortable with each other to the point that he willingly walked with her on his arm. She grinned stupidly. Oh, the drama. What would father say when he saw? Turns out he had, and was nudging Katara.

"What is your brother doing?" He said slyly.

"I don't know," Katara replied, winking.

Father and daughter shared a knowing glance, which was to be interrupted by the one and only Sokka, who had deposited the mystery girl by the other Earthbenders.

"Who's that?" Hakoda and Katara asked, practically within milliseconds of each other.

"Oh, spirits, don't tell me you've been thinking what I think you have been thinking!" Sokka whined. "Tui and La, I met her just now! She's blind, so she asked me to lead her to her position."

Katara deflated a bit. She raised an eyebrow. "If she's blind, why did Arrluk hire her? Knowing him, he wouldn't ever hire a blind girl that needed someone to lead them to the other side of the ship."

"Don't ask me. She didn't say anything about her Earthbending."

Hakoda looked at the girl curiously. "What is her name?"

"Toph."

"Ah. Her. Toph Beifong. Lieutenant mentioned her. She's a Master Earthbender apparently. Not sure if I believe it, but Lieutenant Arrluk and the other Earthbenders certainly did."

Katara shrugged. "We'll see what she's got on the battlefield."

100 AG

3rd Day of the 8th Month – _The Battle for Ba Sing Se_

Ah, the battlefield. Bloody, gory, dangerous, and especially not suitable for the three youngest of the fighting force – a thirteen-year-old, sixteen-year-old, and a seventeen-year-old. What exactly they were doing there was unclear. Just that they were warriors, with the over twenty's, fighting for a cause that had been distorted by years of war.

So then first, there was darkness. Darkness and the dry dirt of a tunnel. Then second, there was light.

Followed closely by fire.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everybody! Heres another chapter! Thank you for all your reviews, favourites and follows xx I hope you like this chapter. the next one will be up soon! I've been reviewing all the chapters and getting myself back on track (I've been gone a while) so bear with me! anyways, here's Chapter Six...but first lemme reply to some reviews hehe

 **Ominous07** \- Hello again! Thank you, I'm glad you are happy. Hopefully this was not what you were expecting...I'm hoping to have a lot more Toph and Sokka interaction in the future, they are such great characters :-)

 **Poisonlilie** \- Hi there! Thank you for your review! I've always been paranoid whether my corrections to the plot make sense and keep in line with the characters personalities (I mentioned earlier on that I will be keeping character's individual personalities the same as in the series) so thank you for that! It's actually hard to find a complete evil!Water Tribe AU, as mentioned by another review, so I hope I can complete this one for anyone who would be curious to see the story from this angle.

 **LuminousMoonRay** \- Woah, thanks for that! I'm really touched. I'm really glad you like Azula! I've never tried to write a character like her before. What can I say about Zuko? You gotta love him. Also, I like the Aang and Zuko relationship. Right now to me its Aang being really energetic and sweet and bubbly and Zuko is the grumpy sarcastic one who is wayy too serious (as far as Aang is concerned). And also, I'd be pretty scared if I woke up to see Azula arguing with Zuko right next to me. As for your air temple idea...we shall wait and see. I shall reveal nothing.

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 **Trigger Warning: Some graphic violence in this chapter. If you don't like violence, I will be putting warnings when the worst of it starts and ends. It will be bolded, underlined like this.**

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 **Chapter 6**

"They're here!" Someone shouted. Was it a Water Tribe warrior? Or Earth Kingdom soldier?

Katara's head rang. She took a few seconds to realize what had just happened. They had just emerged from the tunnel to meet a blast of sunlight and earth and _fire_. Now, with _battalions_ of enemies stood around them, half from Earth, half of Fire, and they were attacking _them_. She looked around frantically – everyone else was as confused as she was. " _It's a small guard outpost."_ Lieutenant's words rang in her ears. This was not a small guard outpost. Fire stung the side of her cheek, and a burst of rock slammed into the ground by her.

Her water rushed to her rescue, and the girl's hands and legs whipped around, the water following it. She desperately tried to remember her forms, her practice, and she did, but with the chaos going on around her, and the sight of Water men fighting against Fire and Earth, and _losing –_ it was certainly unnerving. Sokka was clashing arm in arm with a Fire Nation swordsman with his boomerang; Katara sent a flash of ice that disarmed the opponent, pinning him to the ground. Sokka's face turned to Katara, and she saw a flash of shock and horror and sadness in his eyes. She took a deep breath, and steadying herself from the surprise of such an ambush, quickly recalled her forms.

A boom brought her back to the battle, and she turned to see red-hot molten rock soaring in the air towards her. _Fire and earth bending combined._ She pressed her palms into the ground, curling her fingers around the grass stalks. Her eyelid closed. A split second later, she elevated herself on a platform of water, and bent it forward, a thundering tsunami, and doused the rock. She froze the water, and slid down; melting a chunk of ice off and eliminating the respective Firebender and Earthbender. The grass was a dark brown. It crackled when she stepped on it. There was a huge shaking sphere of water suspended above her head, and she spread her fingers apart, separating it into tiny droplets.

* **TW - graphic violence***

Suddenly, she felt a burning pain on the back of her neck, and she fell forwards in pain, clutching the part which had been burnt. She felt the specks of water collapse into one raging mess. There was the crunch of burnt fabric, and the sizzle of burnt skin, and the scent of burning hair. She grasped at the jagged tendrils, most of which had been burnt off by the fire. She spun around, grimacing at the pain in her back, and shot a water whip at who she suspected to be her attacker – she could see the glint in his eye. She froze the tip, which was met with a strong wave of fire, and a huge burst of flame shooting forwards towards her. She blocked it deftly, and punched forwards several times, sending multiple ice-balls forwards towards the man. She twisted her fingers, morphing the balls into jagged splinters of ice. The man deflected them with white-hot fire, a ghost of a grin forming on his features. He stepped forward. Katara could see the crackle of electricity on his fingertips. She glanced down at the grass – brown, and dead. She looked at her water skin – barely enough to douse _lighting._ But enough to douse- Katara brought the water forwards, and it floated around her. The man smiled, Katara didn't. What came next was a repeated ritual, a necessary practice, a life for a life. Rather, one life for hers.

The blue electricity shot forwards, and so did the water. Katara could barely see it, but the water wrapped around the left half of the man's body, covering his hands, his arm, and part of his chest. It was convenient that he was using the left side of his body – that's where his heart was beating.

The lightning did all of the other work. Katara didn't flinch.

Burning flesh, again.

* * *

Sokka could see the body, the left side of the man's body was smoking, while he jerked, crying, howling. Katara just walked away. She just _walked away._ The boomerang fell at his feet. There were screams in the air, and the Water Tribe boy thought it was him.

 ***TW: end of graphic violence***

* * *

Katara stepped away from the body. Her own injury didn't even hurt anymore. She didn't even care about her ruined hair or burnt clothing. _He's dead._ That was all there was to it. Sokka was screaming, she didn't know why. He wasn't in any particular danger.

Her water whipped around her like tentacles. Her eyes stopped on the earthbenders. She recognized the fat one with the four teeth, launching…launching a boulder at one of her own. She saw the one with the mask tackling two Water Tribe warriors to the ground with stone handcuffs, and the blind girl…Toph.

Turns out she really was a good bender. She was single-handedly keeping four Waterbenders at bay, and her hands were encased in a silver substance – metal. Katara gaped. The girl would metalbend.

Then within two seconds, it clicked. _They knew._

To put it simply in four words: it was a trap. The Water Tribe was now fighting an entire army of Fire Nation soldiers, pretty much most of the Earth Kingdom guards, and the people they hired to fight for them. _And they knew all along._

She glaced at her father. He and Bato were fighting hand-in-hand against a huge Earth Kingdom guard. Arrluk was pinned down by the entire squadron of Dai Li. " _Our allegiance is to the Earth Queen."_ Most of the warriors were either dead, or rendered useless by the barrage of attacks. Those left standing were barely even managing to stand in the first place. And Sokka, he wasn't in the best shape.

It didn't take a genius to realize that the Water Tribe was losing.

Katara was starting to formulate a plan. She would have to choose carefully who she would bring with her. She could extract enough water from remaining grass to travel up the wall in an ice slide, but she wouldn't be able to save everyone. As she fought, she began to think. _Father, Sokka, Bato, Arrluk._ That was about everyone that was most important to the war effort. The rest…well, to put it simply, their rescue came on another day.

Her water was chaos. It was rough, jagged, angry. It was sharp, it was piercing. It wasn't smooth, neither was it graceful. It was cruel and it was painful. And the only thing was, it wasn't the water that was making it that way. It was Katara.

* * *

Sokka, like his sister, managed to figure out what was happening soon after she did. He had stopped staring at the charred body, and instead on the surroundings. The Earthbenders had betrayed them. His thoughts flew to Toph. He could see her fighting. She was strong, much stronger that he thought she would be. Earth flew everywhere. She was slicing the air, sliding around the ground, thrusting her arms, and the Earth followed her every command. She wasn't even blind right now. _She could see._ He was even more in awe at the metal which coated her fingertips. Blades of it were buried in his warriors.

But the pang of betrayal settled in. It was painful, that was for sure. It was like a knife in the heart, but plunged in once, twice, and over and over again, just to make sure that it was left in shreds. All the while Toph smirked. He could remember what she had said yesterday. It all made sense now. He could practically see it. The Earthbenders led them straight into the battle. Straight to where every other possible soldier was, thus taking advantage of the Water Tribe's dependence on them and their tunnel building, to turn the tides on the Water Tribe, and drive them out of Ba Sing Se. Honestly, did Sokka even care that they were facing imminent defeat anymore? His eyes narrowed.

He gripped his club (a gift from his father on his sixteenth birthday). The boomerang was slid back into its sheath. He swung the club, holding on tight with both hands. It met with the legs of his enemies. Oops, he meant, the people he was fighting. Not his enemies.

* * *

Toph noticed Sokka nearby. Really was a shame. Seemed like he was a nice guy. She guided herself forwards, her eyes staring out. Too bad he was from the Poles.

* * *

Sokka was angry. Then he noticed green pants and a heavy belt. He looked up. She seemed like she was staring right at him.

"Hello, Toph."

"Hello, Sokka."

Sokka stared for a moment. The girl was so different from the one on the sea. He knew what he had to do.

"I'm sorry, Toph. But it has to be done."

"I'm not sorry."

Sokka's hand flew forwards, ten fingers wrapped firmly around his club, aiming for the girl's waist. _Then it wouldn't be fatal._ The girl didn't even smirk. She stepped back just as his club reached millimetres away from her abdomen, and a block of earth slid out of the ground beneath him, so he was slammed against it chest-first. A belt of hardened dirt slipped around his chest, binding him tightly against the wall. His club lay useless on the ground.

"You idiot." Toph said quietly, before slipping away.

Sokka beat his hands against the earth. He'd never cried before, but the war really did do things to you. Toph walked away like nothing had happened. Sokka was another enemy, he was another person she had to defeat. She was the most powerful Earthbender in the world. He was a guy with a boomerang. To Toph, Sokka was who she had to defeat. He wasn't the boy who led a blind girl to her place on the Water Tribe ship. He was Water Tribe.

* * *

Katara had seen Sokka face Toph. And really? Now he was pinned to the Earth, because a blind girl beat him up? Spirits. He really was useless. She sent a splint of ice his way, her mouth twitching at the satisfying cracking sound when it hit the earth. _Stupid brother. He really should stop making me save his butt._ She called the water back and swirled around, forming a shield of water around her, and punched out, barring any Fire Nation soldier or Earth Kingdom soldier from reaching her. She was untouchable. They could not hurt her, but she could hurt them. So she did, and she smiled will she heard them scream.

* * *

Sokka was free. He wiped the tearstains on his cheek. He could still feel the warm heat of the earth against his chest. The warm sting of betrayal. His eyes unintentionally moved to the soldier Katara had attacked earlier. He hadn't noticed it before, but there was a Fire Nation pin in the man's hair. Strange, for a soldier. Usually that was reserved for royalty…wasn't it?

Then, he heard a heart-wrenching roar. An older man, wearing a similar pin, had seen the body. He was rushing over to it now. He had grey hair, and red-and-gold robes, and the fire emblem in his hair. He knelt by the body, moving it so the man's head was in his lap. His hands cupped the man's face. The man cried.

"My son!" The man said. "My son is dead!"

No one really noticed the heartbreak, other than Sokka. They just kept fighting, while a man mourned his dead child. Two fingers slid over the dead man's eyelids, closing them. He almost looked asleep. A gasp hitched in Sokka's throat. The man was now cradling his son in his arms, tears dripping down his cheeks.

"My darling wife, look after our son." Sokka could barely hear the man's words. "He has joined you too soon." The father slid his son gently from his lap.

And then there was a song. And then the man looked up from his son's dead body and looked Sokka straight in the eye. Sokka suddenly felt acutely uncomfortable. But he levelled his gaze, and was surprised to see that in the man's eyes, was not anger, or vengeance, but pure grief. The grief of a father who lost his son before he should have. The sadness of someone who had given up.

The man turned back to his son. Sokka was left empty inside. Because he had the feeling that this wasn't the first time that a father had mourned his son because of this war. He started to think that there were so many other families that had been torn apart by this war, and that there were so many young men and women gearing up for a war that they shouldn't have to fight. Like himself. Sokka looked around. Many more parents will grieve their fallen children that died today.

A wave of cold overtook Sokka. He stood in the middle of an ambush, fighting for his Tribe, but he realized that if they had won, they would have received nothing other than the ecstasy of victory and the hate of everyone else who belonged to places other than the Poles. While the rest of the world suffered, the Water Tribe continued to inflict more pain disguised as victory. Sokka's hand slapped over the Water Tribe emblem on his chest. And then he was flying, flying away, and out of the battle, a strong hand around his waist.

Katara had grabbed him, and now they were zooming forwards on a slide of ice, which was travelling up an ice ramp while led to the top of the wall. Sokka turned to look for the grieving father, who had disappeared. The dead son still laid on the ground, his eyes closed, the only indication he was dead his ruined arm. Katara did that. Sokka didn't want to be Water Tribe anymore, he realized suddenly. He didn't want to be responsible for any more fighting. Any more death. Any more grief. He looked at Lieutenant Arrluk. He didn't want to be like him.

And his father. How could he let this happen? And _Katara_? He thought she hated seeing people in trouble. In pain. She had said something a few days ago, when the troops at Ba Sing Se begged for reinforcements. _I'll never turn my back on people who need me._

Well, the people of the world needed her, or someone, more than ever. _I guess, if Katara won't be that person, I will. Or at least find someone to._ Sokka rethought his idea. He remembered Arrluk's famous line: For the glory and honor of the Water Tribe. And it struck him. He knew what he had to do, but should he?

"For the glory and honor of the Water Tribe," Sokka thought. "I should find the Avatar." The thought then became hazy, and Sokka stopped thinking about it, focusing on holding on tight and keeping safe. He would think about it when he knew they would live.

Katara, Hakoda, Bato, Arrluk and Sokka landed just outside the wall. Inside the walls, there was a clash of Earth and Fire against Water. The Earthbenders were stubborn, the Waterbenders were proud, and the Firebenders, they were angry.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zuko and Aang stared into the Eternal Flame and wondered how something so beautiful could be so painful.

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 **Hope you liked it! I will upload the next chapter within the week, depending on my schoolwork. If I'm not wrong there are quite a few tests coming up...sigh. Please leave constructive criticism in the reviews - I'm always looking for ways to improve the story and my writing. Have a great week!**

 **-Cass**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi friends! Here's another chapter...my school holidays start next week so I will be able to upload more frequently and work on more chapters! Anyways, sorry if this chapter is very jumpy, there's quite a few POV changes, so please bear with me for now. Anyways, hope you like it! Also, I started an ao3 account, (user: aleas) and am uploading this story as well. I've hit a sort of obstacle on the progress of chapter 10, but I hope that I'll be able to finish it by the time it comes to post!**

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 **Ominous07: Thank you for your review, again! I'm glad you liked it. I agree, it is a bit weird seeing Katara so cruel, but I'm hoping that today's chapter sheds a bit more light on her character. I tried to manipulate her canon personality to become more evil, but still retaining the same values (familial love, etc) To me, Sokka is like our Zuko in this fic, so we will see how it goes...hmmm...Sokka alone is an interesting concept - he's hardly ever protrayed w/o someone in the TV series. Hope you like this chapter!**

 **LuminousMoonRay: Thank you for the review! Maybe we will, maybe we wont, but it sure would be fun to have that combo of happy Zuko and moody Aang. And yes, I am trying to rewrite the timeline, as realistically as possible, so some familiar scenes will be included, but not in the chronological order of the show. (E.g. Sun Warriors, Battle Ba Sing Se happened early on in the fic, while they happened later on in the TV series). Also, Zuko is not burned right now! He has no scar. Whether he gets in the end one remains to be told.**

 **I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender**

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Chapter 7

100 AG

4th Day of the 8th Month - _The Day After The Defeat at Ba Sing Se_

Sokka woke up early that morning, while the sun was still hidden and the moon still showed its face. He sat by the fire, his sack already packed with his essentials, his boomerang and club strapped firmly into their holsters. He remembered every single bit of the battle yesterday – he still felt as dazed as he did when it had happened. He remembered the screaming, the pain, the anger that had emanated around him, and all he could think of was how it was because of him. Because the Water Tribe wanted to devour the land like it was their prey. But they had been kept out, so now he was sitting by a fire, staring in the embers, remembering the man who Katara had killed yesterday, and his distraught father, and the arm which looked so much like the embers crackling and disintegrating in the fire. Sokka remembered Toph Bei Fong standing over him, shackling him to the ground, and wondered why it meant so much when she was barely an acquaintance. Perhaps it was a realization – that a kid could fight another kid and not feel any wrong doing – because for once it was the right thing to do. Because they had to. Sokka knew what he thought of doing yesterday. He decided then and there, staring into the flames while the ghosts of his memories picked him out from the inside.

Sokka slipped away considerably quietly, and went completely unnoticed, just as the sun peeked around the horizon. Later in the morning, now with the sun a sweltering orb suspended in the sky, Katara would discover his note:

 _Dear Katara and Dad,_

 _I am leaving. I no longer want to be here anymore. The war has done many horrible things, and I never expect the world to forgive us. But we should at least redeem ourselves. I am off to find some way of bringing honor to the Water Tribe, and whatever you do, you can't stop I'm really serious about this. And also, no, I won't tell you where I'm going. What we are doing. It isn't bring glory to anything but suffering._

 _I love you,_

 _Sokka_

And she would go into a considerable rage which would last for the remainder of the day. _He says he loved us, but obviously not enough for him to stay._ Hakoda merely looked sad, and a little disappointed, Bato was expressionless and Arrluk was furious. He had ranted for the days after this about the _nerve of a sixteen-year-old boy_ , and the _treason_ Sokka had committed, and the _dishonor of the boy's actions._ After her own anger, came sadness for Katara, since after all, she had lost her brother. She wondered for hours on end whether she would ever see him again.

 _P.S. We'll see each other soon._

Well, that answered her question.

* * *

"Zukooooooo," Aang moaned. "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" Zuko asked, as he delivered another swift kick and looked impassively at the flame which shot from the ball of his feet.

"Spirits, now you're just teasing me." The airbender pointed at the space where the flame had just disappeared. "That!" Aang copied Zuko's movements, but only with a considerably smaller, flame.

"I don't know." Zuko shrugged, suddenly awkward. "I just…do it."

Aang grumbled loudly. "That's no help. You said you'd help me out!"

"I won't be your teacher if you aren't serious about it!" Zuko shouted.

"But just a little bit!"

Zuko pouted. "Whatever. If you want to learn Firebending so bad, there's the _Sun Warriors_ here that can help you. They're the Masters, not me."

Aang shook his head. "You're supposed to teach me, not them. I can feel it. You are my master."

Zuko felt a sliver of triumph. The Avatar was starting to show through the twelve-year-old. But he was still dumbfounded. "No wonder you can't learn Firebending, you only want to be taught by someone who barely even knows how!"

"Zuko, you're not _that_ bad."

"I'm pretty bad compared to my father."

"Then if it helps, you're pretty good compared to me."

"Wow, thanks Aang. I feel better already."

"That's actually a pretty flattering comparison."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "What an honor."

Aang's eyes turned serious. "But really. I really, really, really, _really,_ want to learn Firebending."

Zuko shot another quick blast of flame, making no reply. Aang shrugged and copied Zuko's stance. Zuko nodded stiffly after giving Aang a once-over.

"Your chi will act as a source for your bending." Zuko started confidently. He remembered this from Uncle's lessons. "And we Firebenders draw power from the sun." Zuko breathed in and out, almost feeling the sun invigorate him with its rays. "Think of the chi flowing through your body and coming out as fire." Zuko performed a spin, then a smart kick. Fire shot out of his foot in a huge blast.

Aang nodded. He repeated Zuko's action, and at the end, though he did manage to produce a good fire blast, it lacked the energy. Zuko couldn't hear the crackling, or feel the white-hot heat.

"That was fun!"

"Not really. But it was okay." Zuko nodded. "Just remember, the sun is your power. And Firebending is offensive. We fight with Firebending. Detact yourself from whatever is holding you back Aang. In Firebending, there is no hesitation." Zuko was struggling to remember what the Uncle had taught him and Azula in the few sessions he managed to conduct with them.

Zuko could tell that Aang was somewhat uncomfortable at these words.

"Try again."

Aang kicked forwards, and a fire blast, similar to the one before it, was produced. Again. Zuko forced himself to remain calm.

" _Offensive,_ Aang. Don't go easy. Firebenders go hard. _Think offensive_. Be _aggressive._ "

This situation repeated itself several times over the rest of the morning, each punctuated with groans from a grumbly Fire Prince. "AANG!" Zuko practically screamed. "AGGRESSIVE OFFENSIVE!"

"Yes, Sifu Hotman," Aang said meekly.

"And don't call me that!" Zuko fired back. Aang gave him a sheepish smile. Zuko's nose wrinkled.

Aang tried again. Another bad one. Zuko decided to calm down for this confrontation. "Aang. Firebending is powerful, it's offensive. We do not defend, we attack. You got it? I need to see that fire in your bending."

At this point, Aang was starting to get a little grumpy about Zuko's constant berating. "And how do you know that? You said it yourself that you're barely even a Firebending Master."

"Well, you said it yourself that I was _better_ than you so you'd better listen."

Aang's lip curled, but he went back into a stance, resolved to do it right.

"Prince Zuko is right."

Zuko looked up. _That's a first._ The Chief of the Sun Warriors stood there; amusement was written all over his face. "Avatar Aang, Firebending draws its power to the Sun. We only have Firebending because the Sun is there. So on the Day of Black Sun, Firebenders lose their bending for that period of time, and on the day of Sozin's comet, our Firebending is enhanced." The Chief formed a circle of fire with sweeping arm and hand motions. "Firebending deals with two ideals – life and energy. The fire comes from within us, and before we can Firebend, we must find our own inner fire. Find something that will drive you. A reason which will last throughout the years. _That_ will fuel your inner fire."

Aang thought for a moment. "I'm not sure."

The Chief frowned. "You will find one eventually. Just keep practicing."

Aang repeated his forms. It was similar to the previous ones, large but unsubstantial, and it flickered away too quickly, so the Chief seemed unimpressed. "Good job, but you lack the inner fire. Also, you are too hesitant. In firebending, our forms are quick, and most deal with consecutive kicks and punches, one after the other. One moment of hesitation could mean death. Remember Avatar Aang, whatever is holding you back, let go to Firebend."

Aang looked nervous. "It's just that my culture; we never believed in war and fighting and hurting other people. And Firebending is so… aggressive, and wild, and painful, I just feel like I'm going against everything I've been taught."

The Chief's eyes softened. "You looked into Ran and Shaw's fire, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Then you probably saw that fire is not at all wild. Like every other element, fire can be controlled. You are only going against your culture if you use Firebending to hurt someone on purpose. Training in Firebending does not suggest ignorance of Air Nomad culture. Do not worry, Avatar Aang. Yes, Fire is aggressive, and painful, but the same can be said about other elements, in some cases. Earth, Water, Fire, Air. All elements are the same, but only become certain things when used a certain way."

Aang remained silent for a moment.

"Try again."

Aang repeated his stance. Zuko, standing a few meters away, could feel the heat of his fire right after that. The Chief smiled.

"Don't let anything hold you back, Avatar. Fire Prince Zuko is correct – a moment's hesitation could be your downfall." The Chief stopped talking for a moment, before a smile flashed across his face. "And do not worry about your sky bison, Avatar Aang, we have it in our stables. Feel free to take him out and keep him with you." Then the Chief walked away. Aang turned to Zuko immediately when he was out of earshot.

"Why'd he wait until now to tell me that they had Appa?" His jaw was hanging open.

Zuko bit back a chuckle. "It's probably to force you to stay."

* * *

100 AG

9th Day of the 8th Month

 _Five days later_

A Water Tribe girl sat on an ostrich horse, her hair cropped to her shoulders and her Water Tribe clothes discarded for Earth Kingdom ones. The injury on her back was bandaged up, but it still stung. Her father's words rung in her ear. _Go to Omashu. Begin the Seige. Redeem the Water Tribe for your brother. Do not fail us like Sokka did._

 _Okay_ , she had said.

 _I won't fail them like Sokka did. It's easy. Just don't run away._ She turned back to look at where she had come from, where Bato and Arrluk and her Father walked in the other direction. They needed her. She never turned her back on people who needed her.

* * *

100 AG

18th Day of the 8th Month

In the two weeks after Aang formed his first proper flame, nothing much changed other than the fact Aang could form decent fire. But under the guidance of the Chief, Zuko had trained ten times as hard. So by the time Zuko had mastered the basics, Aang was still working on sustaining a flame in a moderately-sized flame. Needless to say, Aang wasn't a natural, and honestly, he wasn't nearly as serious as Zuko. Zuko, on the other hand, felt a little bit more comfortable towards the element, thus he had managed to get through the practices and drills with relative ease and understanding.

Zuko was always comforted by the presence of these people. They no longer judged him by his title, and he had met a few nice people he enjoyed talking to. They called him Zuko with a hint of friendliness, not the Fire Prince with a tinge of disdain, and he liked that. Back at home, he was always "Fire Prince" and "Sir" and "Prince Zuko" and "Zu-zu" from Azula but here with Aang and everyone else it was Zuko. It made him feel normal, like he wasn't going to rule the Fire Nation one day. He was just a seventeen-year-old kid who wanted to learn Firebending. And that felt good. Every night he would stay up chatting with Aang as they lay on their bedrolls. Aang had so many stories, and Zuko shared his own, of his mother, of Azula, of Ty Lee and Mai. Zuko had asked Aang one night, how he liked it here. Aang replied that he liked the food. The Sun Warriors had specially amended their recipes so that the vegetarian Aang wouldn't have to scavenge of berries, so Aang often sat at the table munching happily on a bowl of rice with a vegetable stew and a fruit pie nearby.

Zuko sometimes forgot that the entire war was at war, but it always came back to him whenever they started training sessions again. Firebending – it reminded him of what he was fighting for, and it always brought him a sense of pride to know that he was doing to do it with the Avatar.

While the pair trained, another person (someone who could have also been called a Prince, at one point) trudged through Earth Kingdom country-side. His blue clothes had been traded for a simple green tunic, cream pants, and covered leather sandals. The only piece of Water-Tribe memorabilia was his weapons. The Water Prince was pretty sure a peasant eye could recognize a Water Tribe weapon that easily – honestly, other than the blue hues, they were pretty ordinary looking. A boomerang? Hah! Obviously anyone could own one. And a club – well, that was a pretty basic weapon to have. A sword though, _that_ was quite the standout, and it didn't help that it had had the Water Tribe insignia carved into its hilt.

So, that sword was ditched right next to his old clothes, albeit a heavy heart.

Now, he regretted it. _Ugh, why didn't I just sell it and buy an ostrich-horse?_ He grumbled in his mind. Then there was a pang in his heart, because he remembered none of this ever would have happened if he hadn't left. _Shut up, Sokka. Remember, you need to find the Avatar to regain the Water Tribe's honor!_ That felt a little bit better, but thinking of his family always made him feel like he should have stayed.

So the Water Tribe runaway continued skirting the outside of a farm, but inside he started to wonder how in the name of Tui and La he was going to find the Avatar, anyways. It wasn't like he could just rock up someplace and the Avatar would be there. He would have to start at the nearest village. The Avatar should be a Waterbender after the Air Nomad Genocide. But it had been almost a hundred years after the Genocide, so maybe the Avatar was an Earthbender? _Suppose it's kinda good that I'm in the Earth Kingdom after all._ He would start at the nearest village. He looked at his map. Zuzhou Village. That sounded like a start. He headed to the south. He could hear the faint rushing of a river. He moved faster. He started to notice the moon starting to fade into the sky. Then sun was casting pink hues across the sky. He would camp by the river.

* * *

100 AG

19th Day of the 8th Month

Katara woke up again to a damp bedroll and tear-stained cheeks. Her Father seemed to have accepted Sokka's betrayal at least a week ago, but honestly, she could see through the façade. Chief Hakoda wasn't a heartless bastard. He had loved Sokka, and his son's actions had hurt him more that words could say.

But Katara, she was _angry._ They needed Sokka there, she needed Sokka there and he left them, he took his weapons and left them behind, with just a note as a comfort for losing a family member. Now he was out there alone, and by himself, and they'd never find him. Something must have happened that would have made Sokka do that, but what had been so special about the Battle of Ba Sing Se to make him leave? They had been doing what they always did – fight for self and country. The week or so of travelling had resolved her – she had to find Sokka, and she would have to convince him to come back home. _Tui and La, I'm the younger one and I have more sense than him._ Katara thought grouchily. She wrapped herself in a soft beige cloak and stepped out of her room. She was met with a blast of wind, which carried the damp, and it stuck uncomfortably to her skin. She rubbed the cloak into her arms, trying to wipe off the sweat which was already beading at her skin. She stuck her feet into a pair of slippers by her bed side, tightened her grip, and looked around her room, like it was the first time she had woken up here – it was. It was plain, with off white walls and cracked furniture. Her belongings were stowed in a cabinet, and her ostrich-horse was downstairs. Her fake name, identity and history was scribbled on a piece of paper nearby. She had had it tucked deep in her boot ever since her father had written and given it to her. She picked it up and unfurled it, scrunching up her nose at the sour smell. But she read on, squinting to read the close, angled letters written in the special code the Water Tribe had devised.

 _Name: Kanna_

 _Identity: Earth Kingdom refugee._

 _History: Ran away from my village after the Water Tribe took my parents from me. Mother was a Waterbender, but she betrayed them and was murdered in cold blood with my father. I am alone now. I came to Omashu for a better life and a new beginning. I was born fifteen years ago. I have no siblings. Looking for honest work, will do anything for money._

Katara, still reading and memorizing the paper let the robe drop, wrapped her tunic around her, and tied her hair up into a simple ponytail, complete with her loopies. Her necklace came last. She hid it under her collar. No one had to see that – its touch was all she needed to get her through today. Her water skin laid warmly against her hip – it felt good to know of the power it held, and the things it meant she could do. She twisted the water around in the water skin, before relinquishing her grip, letting only a small drop ease its way out. She placed the paper on the table, and splashed the water on the paper, repeating its contents in her head over and over again. The paper disintegrated as the water seeped through it. She swept its remains onto the ground and pressed her heel on it. She replaced the water back into where it came from.

The necklace still sat snug against the curve of her neck. It was like a mother's hug, so it gave her comfort; and it always helped – because what she needed most comforting about was Sokka – and she couldn't let it get in the way of her mission. She relished her mother's hug.

* * *

 **Hope you liked it! Wasn't sure on how to end the chapter, but I will update as soon as possible! (in a week?) Thank you to all those who favourite, follow and review! I appreciate it all :'-)**

 **-Cass**


	8. Authors Note (Hiatus)

**Hi friends,**

 **I'm really sorry for not updating lately, but I'm afraid its going to stay like that for a while. I have a series of end of year exams in two weeks, so I really need to concentrate, revise and study, because its really important for progressing to next year. So I'm going on hiatus for around a month (from now to the last exam its around 4 weeks), but I will start posting regularly again once they are over. I'll have more time because my holidays start at the end of October. I'm really sorry, but I need to focus on my studies. I'm so sorry to keep y'all waiting, but I hope you understand.**

 **Thanks for all the favourites, reviews and follows I've received the past few weeks as well, I love every single one of you very, very much. See you soon xx**

 **-Cass**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone! I'm back! Sorry for taking so long, I've just been having a really busy life right now. I will try to update regularly, and I won't make any more excuses. Progress will be slow but I hope that you will stick around regardless :)**

 **Ominous07- Yes, exams really are quite horrible. Thank you for the well wishes :)**

 **Poisonlillie- HAHA yep, we must be in different countries. I had a mid-year and end-of-year break every year! Thanks :)**

 **Guest - In my opinion, one or two grammatical mistakes would not make a great difference to readers - only extreme and most importantly, consistent grammatical errors would - as that would be an instant indicator the story itself would be similar. In defence of other fics with one or two mistakes, it is not a clear indicator and such assumptions should not be made, as the story should still be coherant and the plot can still shine through as best as it can if written well. Nevertheless, every man to his own and your tip is appreciated, and the title has been changed. Thank you! :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Zuko sat by his bedroll, leaning back against Appa while balancing a sheet of paper on his knee. A brush twirled round his fingers. The paper had only four words on it: _Dear Azula and Father._ He started to wonder what he could say that would convince his Father that he was on a journey to find himself. He pressed to brush to his paper.

 _My journey is going well. I am staying at a village inn right now while I write this. It is eye-opening to see the lives of the peasants._

Zuko sat back and read it over. Hm. Decent enough. He continued. He channelled his inner angsty Fire Prince onto the paper.

 _Everywhere I go, I am reminded of our privileged life. I don't tell anyone who I am, though. Who would believe that Fire Nation royalty was walking the same dusty path as them? The idea is beyond them. I go by a fake name – Lee._ _So now, I wear Earth Kingdom clothes and have an Earth Kingdom name - as much as it disgusts me, I do it._

Zuko brush lifted slightly from the paper. He wondered what else he could talk about. Should he talk about the progression of his 'emotional journey', or should he continue jotting down random weird brooding thoughts about his journey? He opted for the first option.

 _I feels unnatural being like an Earth Kingdom peasant. I don't feel right. Whenever I look in a mirror, I see the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation in Fire Nation clothes, not the Earth Kingdom peasant I am dressed as. I wonder if I have always belonged to the Fire Nation, just I have never known it. But I will continue on my journey, and it will not end until I truly find myself, within myself._

 _Zuko_

Zuko signed his name with a flourish, and set the brush down. He skimmed the letter. He started to worry that it was too lame, or cheesy. He looked around for Aang. Maybe he could be the judge of that. He didn't need to look very hard, however, as the airbender appeared behind Appa almost a minute after Zuko looked up.

"Hey Zuko!" Aang grinned. He looked at the letter. "Oo, a letter. Let me see."

"Hey, be careful with that!" Zuko said as Aan airbent the letter out of his hands. Aang ignored him, and instead he read the letter with an amused expression on his face. Zuko sighed. "So, is it believable enough for you?"

Aang handed the letter back. "Seriously? "It will not end until I truly find myself, in myself"? You couldn't figure out anything better than that?" A smile played on the ends of Aang's lips.

Zuko glared. "Why don't you suggest something, then!"

Aang thought for a while. "Uh, how about, 'my journey only ends when I find peace with myself.'"

Zuko huffed. "Now I sound like I'm emotionally unstable. Which I'm not."

"Yeah, but you kinda are pretending to, right? Otherwise why else would you go on a journey to sort out your emotions?"

Zuko's lips pursed. "Fine." He scratched out the line and replaced it with Aang's.

"Better already." Aang laughed.

Zuko sealed the letter. "Now, I need a hawk."

Aang shrugged. "We'll find one eventually."

Zuko slipped the letter into his pocket, and stood up. "Oh, and Zuko?" Zuko turned to look at the Avatar. "Have you mastered Firebending yet?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "No. It's only been a few weeks."

Aang looked disappointed. "Oh. I was kinda hoping you had. It would have been cool."

"I'm decent though." Zuko pointed out. "And getting better. But-"

"But what?" Aang suddenly looked very nevous.

"My Uncle. He said once that no one is a true Master until you've experienced the heat of battle. I'm not sure how true it is, especially for Airbenders, but I suppose in the Fire Nation it does kind of make sense."

Aang tilted his head to the side. "Your Uncle seems like an interesting man."

"More enigmatic than interesting." Zuko grumbled. "Now, show me what you know."

Aang quickly showed Zuko his palm. A flame flickered to life in the center of it. Zuko nodded stiffly. "Good work."

"Show me what you can do," said Aang. "Please?"

Zuko's hand curled into a fist, and almost immediately a short, glowering flame extended from the bottom of his fist, shaped like a knife and white-hot. "It's called the fire dagger." He unfurled his fists and made a smooth, sweeping motion with his hands, and two fire walls collapsed in front of him like two waves, crashing together in a giant burst of flame, which he pushed forwards in one big fireball. Aang was mesmerized. "I don't know what that move is called." Zuko said sheepishly. "I made it up."

"It's cool." Aang nodded fervently. He steadied himself, and pushed both hands forwards, with fingers interlocked, so a stream of flame was released from it. Then, he kicked forwards, so another stream of flame from his foot joined to the streams from his hands. "I've learnt the fire stream." Aang said with a grin.

"Good." Zuko said.

Aang did it again, and Zuko felt like shouting in delight. The two practiced their forms, and they didn't stop until a delicious aroma drifted their way, signaling the arrival of lunch and the food that came with it.

Azula was sprawled across an armchair, her legs thrown over one of the armrests, while her back rested against the other. A pile of scrolls were scattered around her, forgotten. Now she was engrossed in the small flame which was flickering in her palm. She stared into the flame, mystified by the sheer power a tiny flame could hold. Her fingers on the other hand danced in and out of the flame, and she didn't care about the painful, blistering burns that came after. Ah, the heat of the flame, it just warmed you right to the core.

Right now the Fire Princess was supposed to be looking through boring scrolls about money and death tolls and ships, but now nothing mattered but the tiny flame which she had made herself, for herself. Why wouldn't Father ever teach her Firebending? She would be ever so good at it. So much better than the long-gone Zuko. Azula mused that for all she knew, she could be one of the most powerful firebenders in the world right now. But she wouldn't know, since she was stuck conjuring finger-sized flames and not the powerful walls of fire that others could do. _Bohhh-ring._ Her flame disappeared. She frowned. She formed another with a quick snap, a short pause, and an exasperated sigh. Her blistered fingers danced in the flames, before withdrawing and snatching up a scroll that sat leaning up against the back of the chair. 56th _Fire Infantry Log._ She rolled it open, her eyes skimming the first few paragraphs. Nothing much, just some moaning about a few Water Tribe warriors on the move towards their stronghold. She continued reading, then something caught her eye. _Earthbender mercenaries came to our camp under the cover of night. Only one told us his name – The Hippo. They offered us a deal, or more like a tip-off. They told us of the Water Tribe's plan to dig a tunnel using them to flank our troops, and that they were being paid large sums to make them listen to Water Tribe orders. We agreed. The Earth Kingdom mercenaries will bring the Water Tribe warriors to the same place that was requested, but we will send most of our fighting force to that area, thus catching the enemy unawares. The mercenaries will be free to enter the city, or to leave, without any complaints from either sides, Earth or Fire._ Azula skipped the rest. She stopped at the last sentence. _Update on the progression of the plan: The Water Tribe has retreated. Ba Sing Se stands. 56_ _th_ _Fire Infantry will withdraw in four sunrises. We return to the Fire Nation in two weeks._

They had returned just a few days ago, but Azula had neglected the log. She tossed it into the _Send to Father_ pile and wondered why Father put her on such a dull job. Something about allowing someone he trusted to read his mail. Something stupid like that. It sounded like Father. Paranoid about nothing. Who was going to send poison through a letter? She thought for a moment. To be honest, sounded like something she might do - it wasn't a bad idea. She looked thoughtful, then continued on her task with a bit more vigour.

An hour or so later, Azula was through most of the scrolls, with the _Ignore_ pile painfully larger than the _Send to Father_ pile. She had tossed a bunch of tax scrolls, war effort updates, and important meetings in that pile. The rest – the stuff that Father already knew, and didn't want to see anymore – would be sent away to be kept in the archives. She snapped her fingers, and a servant trotted in with a huge red canvas bag, quickly shoving the bigger pile of scrolls into it, and then filling a smaller, fancier bag with the smaller pile of scrolls, before rushing off. Azula liked it. She liked people running away from her. It gave her a weird sense of dominance. A reminder she was a princess to be feared; not that she ever forgot it.

She swung her feet back to the ground, and was about the stand up, when another servant came running back in holding another scroll.

" _Aga_ , what is it now? More scrolls to check?" Azula snapped.

"No, my Princess. An important message for the Phoenix King. I had been ordered to give it to him personally, but all his mail goes through you, the Princess…"

Azula snatched it out of his hands. "You may leave."

The servant bowed nervously. "Yes, my Princess." He scurried away like a mouse.

Azula broke the seal with her fingernails and unfurled the letter. Her eyes scanned the scrolls contents unfeelingly before she marched out of the room. She moved down the hall with an unspoken anger. Her footsteps were so loud they could be heard from the other side of the palace. Her breathing was so hard, everyone that passed by would feel her breath on their necks for a moment. Her eyes were so glaring, she could have burnt a hole into the ground if she stared hard enough. She entered the Fire Lords study without knocking. The few ministers that were gathered there quickly bowed their way out in an instant. The Fire Lord stood up slowly. His eyes were slits. Azula knew he hated interruptions. "What is it, Azula?"

"A letter came for you, Father. And it is suited to your interests."

"Who is it from?"

"Uncle."

The Fire Lord snatched the scroll from Azula's hands, and ripped it open. His eyes travelled across the scroll at breakneck speed, and when they finally reached the end of the paper, the Fire Lord's eyes were filled with bitterness.

"Your cousin Lu Ten is dead." The Fire Lord said.

"I know." Azula said in reply.

"Iroh says that he died during the battle of Ba Sing Se, on the very day the Water Tribe was defeated."

"I know." Azula repeated carefully.

"And he was killed by a Water Tribe Princess."

Azula's eyes widened. The Fire Lord smirked. "What is the penalty for murder of Fire Nation royalty, again, Wei?"

The Royal Advisor slunk out of the shadows behind one of the pillars. He replied without hesitation. "Death. Death by fire."

Azula's eyes flashed. The Fire Lord turned to his daughter. "Be sure to give it to this Princess, Azula."

"Yes, Father." Said Azula.

The Fire Lord turned to Advisor Wei. "I need you to find out the whereabouts of this Princess. She must pay for her actions. Besides, the death of a Water Tribe royalty will surely prove essential in the war effort.

"But, my Lord," Wei stuttered. "The Princess will surely be guarded heavily. We should focus our power on Omashu. Omashu weakens by the day."

The Fire Lord's hands clenched. "Omashu is lost. We need to find our own victories. Let that victory be the death of the Water Tribe's Princess. Do you know her name?"

The Advisor seemed shaken. "But what about the troops in Omashu? We need all the men we can get. My Lord, I humbly beseech you, bring our troops home from Omashu. They are tired and weak, they will die without your command."

"Didn't you hear me, Wei?" The Fire Lord said menacingly. "Omashu _is lost._ There are only a hundred soldiers fighting there. We have lost almost a third in the fighting. Most of the survivors are as good as dead. What good is more injured to tend to? It delays our war effort. Let the stragglers find their own way home."

"Please, my Lord." Wei whimpered. "The war can wait, our first priority should be our people…"

The Fire Lord's mouth turned up. "It is curious, Wei. Why are you so determined to get these people home?"

Wei's eyes darted from Azula to his Fire Lord. "My son…"

"Ah, your son." The Fire Lord said. "At least he'll die an honorable death." The Fire Lord stood up. "Find this Water Tribe Princess. Update me come any progress. And the weapons. You have half a year to complete them."

Wei nodded blankly. "As you wish, my Lord." He said sharply, before turning and shuffling away. Azula watched his retreating form. She looked at her father. He turned away.

"Azula. Send a small ship to pick up the rest of our troops from Omashu."

"But Father, you just said to Wei-"

"You shouldn't pay attention to what I said to Advisor Wei. Pay attention to what I say to you. Send a small ship to take the rest of our troops."

* * *

 **I'm working one chapter ahead, so I'm on Chapter 10 right now! See y'all next chapter. Hope you liked it. Leave some constructive criticism in a review to make this story better, or if you want to see what happens next, follow and favourite!**

 **Cass**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, I suppose I owe you guys an explanation. I live in Singapore and am sixteen, so I am finishing the final year of Secondary/High School. Thus, if any of you guys are under the British system, like everyone else I take the O Level's this year. It's a really big exam which determines the next school I go to before University. So I've really been caught up on the homeowrk, revision and things just typical with important exams. Basically the entirety of 2017 will be studying for my exam in October/November. When I first started this story, it was the beginning of the Sec 3 Level, where teachers cram content into our brains before we become Sec 4, so most time is left for revision. So even then it was hard to catch up with this fic, and now even more so. But I will really, really try. Enjoy this chapter.**

 **Chapter 9**

100 AG

20th Day of the 8th Month

Zuko was crouching on the sky bison's back, deftly strapping down the supplies on either side of the saddle. Aang stood in the middle of the gaggle of Sun Warrior children, grinning sheepishly and proudly showing off his airbending moves. Zuko sighed. He really could have used some help up here. He buckled the last food pack onto the saddle and slid down Appa's side. He slunk over to Aang, and the children scattered almost immediately. Zuko wasn't sure what scared them so much. Maybe it was the scowl forever planted on his face. Yeah, that was probably it. "We're ready to go."

Aang nodded. "Where are we going again?"

"Omashu. I need to get some weapons to help enhance my bending. Omashu is a good trading port, it's a guarantee I'll find something there."

Aang nodded. "I might be able to find my friend."

"King Bumi?"

"Yep."

Aang jumped up onto Appa's back. Zuko followed quickly. The Chief bowed. "See you soon." He said.

"See you soon!" Aang replied happily, waving cheerfully. "Yip yip!"

Katara woke up with a start. Another nightmare of the battle at Ba Sing Se. The sweat was still dripping down her forehead. There was a wet patch on her pillow. She bent the water away and dumped it into the wilting plant. She looked at her identity slip again. She wondered why she hadn't disposed of it already. She bent some water onto it, leaving it water stained and smudged and illegible, then tore it up into several tiny, wet strips. She slipped on her clothes again. She decided to let her hair down today. But she tied a sort of half-bun on the back of her head. She attached the loopies to either side. She pulled her boots over her feet. She slipped out of the room without forgetting her water skin. It was still filled with water. A few people had already asked her what it was for. She had said for drinking, while subtly bending the water within the skin while trying to maintain an innocent smile. She always had been one for irony.

She petted her ostrich-horse on the way out, and headed down the road to the food house where she had eaten yesterday. She sat down on yesterday's seat. The young server from yesterday shuffled over.

"Hello! Welcome to Tai Food House. What would you like to eat? We have porridge, sausage, rice cakes, fruit salad, soup, bread rolls, cakes, milk, and lots more." The serve put on a forced smile and her voice was too happy than was believable.

"Porridge and sausage." Katara said rudely. "Please." She added as an afterthought. Though it sounded more demanding than polite.

The server nodded. "And water?"

Katara smiled at the word. "Yes."

She finished the meal slowly while mulling over her father's orders. He had said that he wanted her in Omashu to plan out a coup. She had already figured out a few ways of doing that during yesterday's breakfast. The first one was to bring in a few Water Tribe benders by disguising them as refugees. She could easily buy them papers, she had gotten fake papers, and it would be easy to call a group of similar looking people her 'relatives'. The customs were pretty slack, if you used the right names. That one she rate eight out of a ten. The second was to hire inside help. That one was a little trickier, considering what happened last time that happened. There was always the possibility of getting into the King Bumi's inner guard circle and turning them against him. Money accompanied by family related threats was always pretty effective. Then there was the third option: Which she thought would be most effective, yet the hardest. To kill King Bumi himself. She had bought a book of Earth Kingdom laws yesterday from a weird shop she had found in one of the shifty areas of town. Actually, it was titled _The Great and Powerful King Bumi's Simple Explanation of Laws in Omashu._ Katara had spent all night reading it. Turns out it was not a joke, and in actual fact, a real list of Omashu law that was applicable in real life. Most were pretty redundant, such as _Law 2039:_ _The unprecedented murder of any animal, especially bunnies, is punishable by torture by feather._ But the more serious were still pretty normal. Laws 1 to 145 all explained what would happen in the case regicide and what would happen in the case it didn't succeed. Law 98 was most interesting.

 _In the case of a successful regicide of King Bumi, and that there are no heirs named by the King, the respective Nation that the killer belongs to will then be legally entitled to the city of Omashu._

Katara had almost laughed out loud at that. Leave it up to King Bumi to make up these kind of rules. She just had to make sure it was her that killed him. It was a well-known fact that Bumi considered himself untouchable, and that he had planned for no heirs to the Omashu throne just yet, if the rumors were correct. But Bumi wasn't dumb. Surely he would have some sort of list that detailed his possible heirs at his death, because despite the fact of the existence of Law 98, King Bumi definitely didn't want any Water Tribe assassination, which would to the Water Tribe ruling Omashu. Katara would start with his royal secretaries. They would know where was any possible lists, or decrees of the next heir of Omashu. Katara pulled the book out from her satchel, and flipped to the last page which was a basic outline of King Bumi's helpers. There was only one royal secretary. _Secretary Lin Xie Zhi._ Katara shoveled the last of the porridge down her throat, and threw a couple bronze coins onto the table. She grabbed the satchel, swung the door open, and started down the dusty street. The market which lined the roads was bustling with activity, and it didn't take long for her to find a person to ask directions from.

"Hello, my name is Kanna." She said sweetly to the older girl, who was manning a scroll stand. "I'm looking for Secretary Lin Xie Zhi. Any ideas where I can find him?"

The girl nodded, and pointed down the street. "Just go down there, then turn right at the fountain. You'll know his house when you see it. It has a huge apple tree in the front."

"Got it," Katara said. "Thanks."

It didn't take long for her to find the apple tree. It was huge, with gorgeous red apples hanging down from the branches, so heavy the branches dropped under the weight. She pattered up the path leading up to the door and knocked briskly. There was a shout of "Just a minute!" and seconds later, a man cracked open the door, looking mildly surprised at the girl standing outside.  
"What is it you require?"

"My name is Kanna. And I require your cooperation." Katara forced the door open and slid inside, taking a good look at the secretary. He was not old, nor was he young, but rather middle-aged, with a few wisps of white which streaked his brownish hair. He backed away, and stood pressed up against a small table.

"What is it you want?" He said threateningly.

"The identity of King Bumi's heir."

"No." The secretary's hand fumbled behind him for a moment, then he hurled himself at her, in his hands he held a short, small dagger. Katara pushed forwards, and the secretary stopped suddenly, his entire body shaking. Katara's hands were spliced in the air, and with a quick jab, his fingers shook and let go of the dagger. " _What…are you d-doing?"_ The secretary choked. Katara wrenched him to the ground.

"Practicing." She said icily. "Now, I'll repeat this again. _Who are King Bumi's heirs?"_ She sliced the air upwards, and the secretary was now on his feet, dangling like a limp puppet. His chest was stuck out, while his arms were limp and hanging back. His legs were barely straight, more curved inwards. Sweat and tears trailed down his face.

"I'll never tell you." He forced out bravely. Katara felt a twinge of annoyance. She pushed forwards, and the secretary slammed into the wall. She brought both arms upwards, so they shaped 'L's on either side of her. The secretary's arms were pinned to the wall. His eyes were swimming with fear now. His entire body trembled. Katara's eyes narrowed into slits. The secretary stared straight into her icy blue eyes.

"I'll ask again, one more time. _Who are King Bumi's heirs?"_

"N- _no_." The secretary stammered.

Katara formed a water whip and grabbed the dagger hang on the floor. She forced the secretary's fingers around it once more. His eyes darted from her to the dagger. She swept her arm to the right, and the dagger was positioned at his throat by his own hand. His fingers were shaking, so the dagger would occasionally come into contact with his throat when it got too close. Katara could see beads of red forming. The secretary squeaked.

" _Who are King Bumi's heirs?"_

"M-m-"

The dagger was pressed lightly against his throat now. There was a thin strip of red forming on each side of the blade.

"Sorry, say that again, I couldn't hear you." Katara said sweetly.

"Me."

"Ha! Sorry, I just find that hard to believe."

The secretary let out a short, shrill cry as the dagger pressed down harder. "I'm his... _c-cousin."_

With a quick, jerking motion of her hands, a crack and a thud, the secretary fell limp on the ground. The dagger clattered from his hands. The secretary's head was bent to the right. His eyes were open. Katara walked out leisurely. She dropped the dagger in a drawer.

She organized her thoughts and put Secretary Lin's last words as the least interesting on her list. The first was a Fire Nation soldier. She had died cursing Katara to the ends of Hell.

"Too bad," Katara had sneered. "I'm already in Hell."

Aang touched down just inside Omashu, in an open field that was quite near to the main city, if his memory was still correct. Zuko slid down Appa's side and weighed the bag of coins in his hand. "So, what are you going to do now, Aang?"

"I'm not sure. I might look for a friend."

"Alright. I'll go to the shops and see if I can find a sword."

Zuko got to the central part of town pretty easily, but was surprised by the general happiness of the area. There were people drinking, and laughing and talking. No dour faces, or crying children.

"What's happened? I thought that the Water Tribe were laying siege to Omashu?" He had asked a cheerful looking woman.

"They retreated a few days ago. Our soldiers are recuperating and the Fire Nation ones are waiting for the ship home. We've been celebrating victory ever since!"

Zuko couldn't help but find that a little strange. But he quickly forgot once he caught sight of a certain shop. The logo was emblazoned with a pair of Dao swords, while made Zuko's eyes flash. He stepped into the shop. Relatively empty, with big, huge display stands in the middle, and a few glass cases towards the back. The front part had a mat for testing the weapons, and a few armour stands with interesting looking armor on display. Zuko slunk to the right side of the shop, and browsed silently. The weapons were of great variety, and of pretty decent quality, good enough that Zuko was actually tempted to purchase a nifty looking club. He had also spotted a pretty slick looking boomerang in the deeper crevasses of the display stands, but decided against getting it, because honestly, what good would a boomerang do against a powerful bender set on capturing the Avatar?

Zuko moved to the back, where the glass cases were. There were some pretty fancy Katanas, or Changdaos which seemed to be more expensive than he could possibly be comfortable with. He started strolling down the middle section. He scanned the shelves, testing the swords and giving them a good once over.

"Need any help?" An elderly, but sprightly looking man had made his way over to Zuko.

"I couldn't help but notice your logo." Zuko said loudly. "And was wondering if you sold Dao swords?"

"Yes, we do." The man grinned, and reached above Zuko to grab a simple looking sheathe from the upper shelf, and passed it to Zuko. The sheathe was a deep red, with a simple gold pattern on the rim. He unsheathed the swords. The metal gleamed in the low light. The handles were comfortable in his hand, and the swords were perfectly shaped like the ones back home. He stared at his face in the reflection, before examining the handle. A simple red metal handle, wrapped in golden twine to better the grip. Fire emblazoned the rim in gold.

"The price?"

"Fifty gold coins. We charge five silvers if you want a strap to go with it."

Zuko peered into his pouch. Fifty seemed reasonable for a sword of obvious Fire Nation quality. "Deal." He piled the coins into the man's waiting pouch and threw in five silvers. "With a strap."

So Zuko left the shop in a considerably better mood, with two swords slung on his back and a lighter pouch weighing down in his pocket. If you looked close enough, you might have just been able to see the glimpse of a smile. (Because the slight turning up around the mouth area _is_ considered a smile, even if it was just a little bit.)

Meanwhile, Kanna walked the streets with a huge smile plastered on her face. It wasn't fake. She was actually really, really happy. Aang walked in the same direction, except from the other side of Omashu. They both had the same destination. The huge building on the top of the hill. Inside the huge building on the top of the hill, there was laughter of a certain King called Bumi. Katara would reach the King first. She would whip her water a several separate strands as guards swarmed her with their Earthbending. Freeze, whip, freeze, slice, freeze, slash. Guards were pinned to the wall. Ice was everywhere. So much ice it was cold, like the South Pole. Guards bleeding over the ice, because Katara had just cut them with her water. Guards running, because ice daggers were chasing them, like they knew where they were going and they were going straight for the heart.

King Bumi, laughing, almost applauding, before his grin shifted into a hostile, almost determined glare. "Who are you and what do you want?"

Katara bowed mockingly. "My name is Katara and I want you dead."

Bumi waved his hand regally. "So sorry, but you're going to have to figure that out yourself. I can't help you."

With a quick slash and bash of his right hand, Katara was wrenched downwards by her arms, and she looked left and right frantically, struggling against the hand holds that pinned her to the ground. King Bumi swiped upwards, and the hand holds extended to pillars, and Katara was standing again, with her arms pinned by her sides.

"Such a shame I can't give you what you want." Bumi cackled, his good eye widened with ecstasy.

Katara looked to either side of her. "But I still can." She clenched her fists and suddenly, droplets flew to form a ball of water was around either fist. The air was suddenly very dry. The water sliced through the hand holds and Katara was free. Bumi nodded approvingly. "So, you're a waterbender."

"Yep, and a pretty good one."

She rushed forwards, gathering more water from the already parched air, and sent it flying to King Bumi in hundreds of thousands of ice shards. Bumi sent walls of rock zooming her way, high enough to smash the ice shards, and Katara quickly recalled the water and sent herself spiraling up into the air in a graceful ice arch. She landed right in front of King Bumi, and smiled. King Bumi sat back in his chair.

"So you're from the Water Tribe."

"Yes."

"And your name?"

"No."

"Hello, No."

"You're mad."

"I prefer the term _mad_ genius."

Katara was slammed backwards, and she shouted in pain when her back connected with a slab of cold, hard rock. She cracked open her eyes, and regained her composure, and shot her water forwards in several whip-thin tentacles. She maneuvered their tips around the King, and froze him to the ground in the ice. She called more water to her and wrapped it around him like a huge blanket, and froze him completely. "You're trapped."

"No, I'm not." Bumi twitched his eyebrow, pellets of rock flew towards Katara, and hit her in her face, arms, leg, chest. There was _painpainpain_ and then it was gone, and the pellets became rock and then Bumi was free, and her water lay around him, like shards of broken glass. She winced as Bumi slammed his slab of rock down on it. She ran down her list of options.

Slow and painful or quick and deadly?

Turns out, she didn't really care either way. Katara turn and ran, and when she was outside she raised her hands and clenched them into tight fists, she could hear the _bambambam_ of Bumi's stone walls coming closer and closer but she concentrated on the water; she felt it in the air, she felt it coming to her and it was all a blur, but she was absolutely positive that she had ice-surfed above his walls and down in front of him and now he was at her mercy, trembling, wrenched into a kneeling position while she found her way to his heart. The water she collected was frozen in a huge arch from outside and dipping down to where she was now, and now she stood frozen, with her hands parallel to each other and bringing King Bumi literally to the ground. King Bumi's head tilted upwards, and she could feel his blood beating as she came closer and closer and closer to his heart and heard his gasp as she bent his blood away from it. And her hand was trembling so much but she kept going and there was a crash and an angry shout and she wrenched back and saw a little boy in Fire Nation clothes with blue tattoos. He had huge brown eyes and they were stretched _wide_.

"Bumi?"

"King Bumi is dead." Katara said harshly. Bumi croaked _not yet_ behind her and the boy looked terrified.

Katara ran forwards at the boy, and was met with a blash of cold air which blew her backwards, and then a woosh of _flame_ and it was her turn to be terrified because the boys tattoos were glowing _blue_ and his eyes were oval orbs of _blue_ and he was _flying_ and rushing towards her. She sent her water flying in dozens of knife-sharp shards towards the boy, who deflected them easily with a swipe of… air? or melted them with hot bursts of flame. "Bumi!" He screamed, and it was like thousand other people said _Bumi_ at the same time. Katara felt her heart beat loud against her chest as the boy came closer and closer, and she knew it was over. Katara of the Water Tribe was not stupid. She knew when she had been defeated, and in her case, it was now. She gathered her water and she sped out of the door, leaving the boy, and she went down into the city and everyone was absolutely petrified of the angry Waterbender storming down the streets of a wave of water, and would be even more petrified when she would return with more Water Tribe warriors and say: Omashu has fallen, it is now called New La. King Bumi is dead, you serve the Water Tribe.

Aang was crying now, he was out of the Avatar State. He knelt by King Bumi's side, and his friend was smiling at him softly. "Aang."

"Yep, it's me, Bumi."

"You don't look a day older."

Aang managed a weak laugh. "Couldn't say the same about you."

King Bumi remained silent for a while. He gurgled softly, and Aang hitched him higher up on his lap. "Bumi, you're going to live."

"No, I'm not." Bumi looked a little sad. "Omashu has fallen, Aang."

"What am I to do? I never asked for this."

"It's your destiny to be the Avatar, Aang. Eventually you had to accept that. You can't hid from those duties." Bumi said quietly.

"I never asked for this." Aang repeated.

"Aang, you're the last hope for the world." Bumi continued. "You are Avatar Aang. You can save the world from the Water Tribe."

"I don't want to-"

"It's not a question of what you want Aang. Take up your destiny now or you'll live with the guilt of not doing so for the rest of your life."

Aang swallowed.

"Promise me Aang. Otherwise I would have died in vain." The tears were starting to appear.

"I pro-promise, Bumi." Aang said softly.

Bumi nodded slowly. "Thank you, Aang." His eyes closed. "Spirits be with you, Aang."

"And you."

King Bumi's eyes slid shut. Aang cried over his body. Prince Zuko rushed out of the scroll stall he had visited, and gasped at the clamor of the people, and Katara ran and ran and ran.

 **I hope you liked it, despite the drama. See you next chapter. Love, Cass**


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

100 AG

25th Day of the 8th Month

Zuko looked up at Aang. The boy was thinking again. Zuko could tell by the deep, unstaring look in his eye. The way he looked at Appa like he was a memory a long long time ago. Zuko turned back to his sword polishing. It was the fifth time today he had found nothing to do and gone back to his sword to stare and find even the slightest blemish. Zuko heard the squeaking sound of cloth against metal, and he stopped. He folded the cloth into a neat square and tucked it beneath his belt, then sheathed the two dao swords.

He turned to his right, where Aang was sitting cross-legged. "So, where'd you want to go next?" Zuko asked hesitantly.

Aang did not reply. Zuko had a feeling he wasn't actually there. He crawled forwards and peeked at Aang. The boy's eyes were squeezed shut, almost as if he was determined to stay asleep. His mouth had taken on the appearance of one in great concentration. His mouth was stretched into a thin line, and the middle of his cheeks concanved slightly to form small dimples. His eyebrows were furrowed so close together, they almost merged together. Zuko shrugged. The kid was obviously having one of his numerous meditation sessions. He was about to roll his eyes when his heart turned cold. Aang had been taking meditations a lot more now, and he had mentioned that he talked to the previous Avatar in them. Zuko's lips pursed sadly. He could almost hear Uncle Iroh chiding him _"Support those that need it! We are not weak because we have feelings!"_ Zuko squirmed uncomfortably. He hadn't really been offering much of comfort to the distraught Avatar since King Bumi's death. Zuko would rather let reassurance and a happier demeanour come naturally. He was just that kind of guy, he supposed. Zuko crept back to the front of the Sky Bison, looped the reins around his wrist, and sat back. He glanced behind at Aang one last time, sighed, and turned back to the sun-bleached clouds.

Aang, was, in fact dreaming. In fact, he was just sitting quietly next to Roku staring at similar clouds, except they were stained a glorious pink. They had sat like this, in amicable silence, and Aang appreciated it. Roku's silence was much more peaceful that Zuko's mre awkward, I-don't-know-what-to-say-right-now kind of silence. Roku did not talk because he saw Aang as someone who was beyond his comfort, he did not talk because he understood how he felt. He knew what Aang was going through, and diagnosed the cure as a sweet moments and a silent partiality.

Aang drew a deep breath. He tried to recall the details of Bumi's killer - but her features were forgotten next to pictures of Bumi's dead body. He thought harder. He had seen a whiz of dark chocolate hair, cocoa skin, and brilliance beyond measure in blue eyes. A vision of beauty, only to be shattered by a harsh, hateful voice (" _King Bumi is dead.")_ which shivered with the undertone of victory. But her face - was blurred by his hatred. When he thought of her face, which he had stared at through a haze of tears, was just a mash of brown and beautiful (oh, so beautiful) blue. Her face was another Water-Tribe face, to join the legions of warriors of Water Tribe. Just another killer amongst the thousands.

"Roku?" Aang murmured.

"Yes, Aang?" Roku replied, his eyes still fixated on a small pastel pink cloud which was floating gently across their field of view.

"Where is Bumi now?"

"Safe." Roku said. "And happy." He added, with a shadow of a smile.

That was more than enough for Aang. "Good."

Roku turned to Aang with serious eyes. "Aang, you have to let him go. He's not...there with you anymore."

Aang looked mildly offended. "I know that."

"That different. You know it is."

Aang's eyes glimmered with bitterness. "I know he's not here anymore. I don't see the difference."

Roku was unfazed by Aang's tone. "You know, yet you cling him that you are only breaking yourself down."

"I thought you understood, Roku, but turns out you're just like Zuko. I bet he just thinks I can forget and get over it. But I can't! Bumi was my best friend, my oldest friend! And now he's dead, because I couldn't get there in time, and you just expect me to _let go?_ I want him to be happy, and I'm glad he is, but _why_...why does he have to be _dead_? He shouldn't have died, Roku. I should have saved him. I can't just let go of Bumi. I won't ever let go of any friend."

"Yet you are not at peace with it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You blame his death on yourself. So, you are not at peace with it." Roku sipped on a cup of tea senerly.

He turned to his right, where Aang was sitting cross-legged.

"Go save the world Aang." Roku said clearly. "You're the Avatar."

Aang's eyelids snapped open. "I'm the Avatar."

Aang turned around suddenly to look Zuko dead in the face. He wasn't smiling, like he normally did, but instead, there was something beyond his twelve years shining in his eyes. Aang cocked his head to the side, almost expecting Zuko to say something.

"Uh…duh?" Zuko said. "And now you're just scaring me."

The expression disappeared from Aang's eyes, but he still did not smile. "Let's go to Ba Sing Se." He said firmly.

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "They are fighting there. We don't want to go there, of all places."

Aang shook his head. "No, they're not. Roku says – the Water Tribe lost. Ba Sing Se still stands." A shadow of a smile passed over Aang's face, a smile of a kid who had to save the world, the smile of the Avatar who felt first rush of victory at the news. Zuko nodded. "Whatever you say, Aang. Let's go. Before it gets dark we should camp." He unfurled his map and pointed out Ba Sing Se, the massive round circle which was very clearly labeled so in big green letters. He traced a path from the city to a spot in the middle of the desert.

"This is where we are." Zuko said. "If we camp now, it'll take the entire morning by air bison to Ba Sing Se."

Aang peered at the walled city symbol. "Would they just let us fly in?"

Zuko pursed his lips. "Then we'd better land at that terminal. He pointed at a tiny dot near Ba Sing Se. "If I remember correctly, there are trains going into the city."

"And Appa?" Aang asked.

"We'll have to ask them then."

Aang was satisfied with this answer.

The next morning, Zuko woke up with a cramp in his back from sleeping leaning up against a rock. The fire he had managed to kindle had been blown out, so he gathered the embers quietly, tip-toeing over Aangs sleeping frame to get every glowing bit back into a little pile. He should be able to start this blasted fire without the embers, he thought, but he would try that after. He brought his hand forwards and pinched the air above the embers, and drew his hand upwards, leaving a thin trail of red-hot fire flickering, sending the embers aflame almost immediately. He smiled, then did the same once again, instead clenching the air in a fist and unfurling his fingers from their hold slowly, revealing a flame which had formed within his fist, and no burnt brighter once exposed fully.

Zuko remembered fondly Aangs face when he did that. Aang could produce a flame in his hand himself, but only with great concentration, and it also came alive with a fizzing sound and many sparks. He was determined to bend with such "coolness" as he described it. Zuko refused to tell him anything. After all, "coolness" was nothing next to mastery, and until Aang learnt that, "coolness" would not be the priority.

Aang awoke almost moments later. He looked at the flame cradled in Zuko's hand, then at Zuko, and sucked on his lips, pouting. "You did it again."

The sides of Zuko's mouth turned up in a tiny smirk. He clenched his fist again and extinguished the flame. Aang took no notice, and was now running around throwing things back onto Appa.

"Hurry up Zuko!" Aang shouted. "A morning, you said! You better be right."

Zuko groaned as the cramp acted up again. "'Kay, okay." He grumbled, staggering to his feet. "Comin'".

In accordance to Zuko'x extremely precise directions, and calculations, they got there just after lunch. Aang had eaten every single fruit or vegetable they had left on the bison, and Zuko had finished the rest of the sausage he had left for their lunches. They had landed at the terminal, and were in the line up to get tickets. There were very few people - the few people actually wanting to go in were mostly soldiers. Zuko heard some of them say that most citizens wanted to leave the city because of how dangerous it had become. Zuko and Appa were one of the few rarities who wanted otherwise. When it came to their turn, Zuko swaggered up to the counter and placed his Fire Nation emblem on the desk. "Two tickets please, and one animal pass for the bison. Orders of the Fire Prince." He shoved a finger in his direction. "Carry on."

The person at the desk was a young woman, who had a mole growing out of her cheek and a sneer which revealed yellowing teeth. Close-cropped hair did nothing to compliment her angular face. "Sorry, we need a passport. This isn't a passport."

Aang pushed past Zuko to the woman. "I'm the Avatar." He said, as if it would help. The woman looked on impassively.

"So?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Look Aang. I know the way through this - Uncle taught me this. Said it worked on all women. Leave this to me." Zuko stepped forwards, pushing Aang out of the way and placed an elbow on the counter coyly. The woman eyed it warily.

"Miss, let me tell you that your eyes are as alluring as a good pot of jasmine tea, and your beauty just as intoxicating." Aang groaned softly next to him. Zuko sent one of his most charming smiles her way. The woman stared at Zuko, then burst out laughing.

"Men! _That's_ the lengths you'd go?" She pushed the emblem further forwards. "Too bad that's not getting you into our city. GUARDS! He's trying to flirt his way into Ba Sing Se!~"

"I'm the Fire Prince, don't call the guards on me!" Zuko said angrily, snatching the emblem from her hands. "And he is the Avatar!"

"Dude, I've seen many forgeries before. That one was state of the art, but its still a fake. Nice try Princey. Next! GUARDS! "

Aang had demanded to see the Fire Nation emblem. "God Zuko. Anyone can have the Fire Emblem. You dumbo. And flirt with that woman? Seriously Zuko. Even Appa could tell you it wouldn't work." Appa roared in answer, frightening most of the soldiers in the terminal.

By then, the guards had run up to them, carrying spears. "Who are you?"

"I'm Fire Prince Zuko and he's the Avatar." Zuko said dryly.

"Liars, the both of you. Come with us. And bring your giant dog."

So the actual Fire Prince and the actual Avatar and the actual Avatar's bison spent about an hour in a wooden cell until the captain of the guard ran in screaming "IDIOTS, IDIOTS! ITS FIRE PRINCE ZUKO!", letting them out, and collapsing on the floor in front of Zuko, begging forgiveness. Zuko sneered down at him. "You will be lucky if you get away intact" He said, before striding away, the Avatar and bison in step with him.

On the train, Aang suddenly was struck with the need to speak. "Zuko, do you think I'm a good Avatar?"

"I dunno yet. You haven't really acted like one."

Aang felt flash of guilt. "Yeah, I've realised. Bumi's death really made me think that."

"I'm sorry he had to die, Aang. But you should use it to fuel your desire. You have to desire to be an Avatar." Zuko paused for a minute. "No one really does, I think. But you should have the desire to make the world a safer place."

"Bringing balance to the world."

"The Water Tribe has really tipped the scale." Zuko said casually. "You need to stop them."

"But I'm one person."

"There's only two people you need to get rid of Hakoda and Arnook. Hakoda is more important - he's no lightweight like Arnook."

"I don't want to kill them though." Aang insisted.

"I don't see any other choice."

"I want to save the world, I do want to bring balance, Zuko. I do. I just don't want to end it by killing someone. There has to be another way."

"Maybe one day you'll figure it out. But right now that's the only thing you can do, y'know."

Aang was about to say something, but Zuko had stood up. "We're here." He peeked out the window, Appa was hovering above them. He was too big to fit, so he was tagging along in the air. They had just pulled up to a huge station, the doors slide open with a low grinding sound. Zuko immediately stood, getting out the door in two long strides.

Aang quickly followed, and was glad to feel Appa's soft fur in his hands as the bison landed right next to him the minute he left the train. Zuko found a stack of parchment by the service desk, thus managing to procure a map of Ba Sing Se, and was about to show Aang when they were suddenly approached by two guards.

"Prince Zuko, Avatar Aang, we have a special house for you to stay in. Follow us."

Aang, eager to rest, followed, and thus so did Zuko, though in his mind he was really calculating where to do next. Both knew that that the main goal was to find an Earthbending master, and Zuko was thus trying to figure out where that might be possible. As they walked through street after street, Zuko started to realise the presence of yellow posters plastered all over the walls. He'd been whisked by too quickly to get a really good look, but after several sightings of excited groups of people around them, his curiously piqued. Finally, he managed to take a few moment to take the poster in, and realised that is was a poster for a fighting match. The Blind Bandit…and the Hippo?

"The Blind Bandit was amazing last match!" A little girl squealed.

"Her Earthbending is legendary." Another moaned, looking up dreamily into the sky.

"The best in the world!" A boy screamed.

Zuko shared a knowing look with Aang, knowing that he was thinking exactly what he was.

So within minutes of reaching their new home, they had already gone straight out and started on their way to watch the match. Zuko had been musing about the Bandit. There had been a crude sketch of her and the Hippo on the poster. The Hippo just looked fat, but the Bandit was different. Though the details seemed to centre more on making the poster epic, he could tell that the Bandit was a young girl. Her long fringe covered most of her face, and she had a knowing smirk on her face. They saw the same posters on their way to the arena, and you could figure out where it was from the huge stream of people headed in the same direction. When they entered the arena, Zuko was thoroughly unimpressed. The arena had no proper seats, just huge concrete steps. The stage was simple, a platform in the middle, surrounded by a huge trench of water. Zuko sniffed. The Agni Kai arena were so much more grand, with its trappings and lavish embellishments. This fight better be good. Aang seemed quite unaffected by it, and was munching on tapioca chips happily, as eager as he always was.

There was no need for you to pay very hard attention for you to know when the fight began. The minute they entered, the crowd immediately started cheering and hooting. The Hippo blundered on stage first, fists clasped and beating his chest, mouth stretched in a huge grin, revealing two small teeth.

Zuko crossed his arms his chest, and leaned back, unimpressed by the Hippo. He was big, but he had no muscles, just a huge body, and he was quite sure he was a dimwit. He put all his money on the Bandit now, who had yet to appear. Regardless, the cheering for the Hippo was deafening, despite the adult diaper slung around his body.

But the Bandit entered on an even more rapturous round of applause. It seemed like the entire arena was cheering for the Bandit. So Zuko moved his attention away from the crowd, instead the fighter herself. She did have a long fringe, and she tossed it aside, revealing large blue eyes. Zuko stared a little harder, then realised that the blue was jus t a little too milky for them to be normal. She really was blind. Zuko wasn't sure if he was going to support the Hippo or the blind girl. Aang on the other hand, was absolutely ecstatic. "The Blind Bandit is going to win,"Aang hissed in his ear. "I know it."

Zuko rolled his eyes. All that was left was to watch the fight. The ringmaster bent a large bounder against a gong, and the fight commenced. The Bandit did not move, and the Hippo grunted and puffed at her from the opposite side. The Hippo seemed to be defiant towards her, and the Bandit seemed to feed on it. After a minute of huffing and puffing, the Bandit stuck out an index finger, and started to laugh. The crowd loved it. "Think you're gonna beat the Blind Bandit?" She taunted. "Ha! Prepare to be wrong, 'cause I'm the best Earthbender in the world!"

The crowd cheered again, and Aang cheered with them. Zuko leaned back even more. With this declaration of prestige, now he was even more skeptical of this girls ability to live up to it.

The Hippo grunted again, and with this grunt, his foot came down in a huge, firm stomp. The ground beneath his foot trembled, and earth shot up in a huge line towards the Bandit, which she deftly avoided. It turned a corner and continued charging towards her, but she once against side-stepped, avoiding it almost effortlessly. Zuko leaned forward, now curious. This girl moved like she could see. She repeated this a few times, then, suddenly, with a quick flick of her wrist, she then sent a stream of rock forward, hitting the Hippo square in the chest. It was a perfect hit, and he slid almost to the edge of the stage. The Bandit flipped her hand in the other direction, a single stone zipped towards the Hippo, hitting his chest, and pushing him over the end.

The entire crowd roared, in absolute hysterics. It had taken two hits from the Bandit to destroy the Hippo. Even Zuko was impressed, and he wasn't exactly the easiest to impress. On stage, the Bandit flexed, a smirk plastered from ear to ear. Aang tapped Zuko on the shoulder and stared in square in the eye. "That's my Earthbending Master. I can feel it." Zuko nodded, uncrossed his arms and joined the applause.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

100AG

29th Day of the 8th Month

It took a while for them to get close to the Bandit. Zuko first tried to catch her after the match, but she was nowhere to be found. Once a couple days later, was the finals, where she easily managed to smack the opponent with a huge slab the second he landed from a huge leap, pushing him off the platform. As the stadium erupted into cheers, the Bandit was handed a huge, green and heavy metal belt, and as she lifted it, the crowd cheered even louder. Zuko couldn't believe it was even possible to cheer any louder, but it did.

But the minute that the stadium started to empty, the both of them rushed out of the stadium, and raced down to the backstage, desperately looking for the Bandit. Aang's eyes darted left and right, and after what felt like hours, he started jumping up and down and pointed to the right. "There she is!" Zuko peered in that direction, and almost immediately noticed the Bandit, rushing out of the stadium, darting around people and rushing down the road, supporters ploughing after her.

Aang grabbed Zuko by the arm and zipped in that direction. He was obviously air bending; Zuko's feet were not even touching the ground, and instead hovering just above, and his entire body was almost parallel to the ground. It continued like this for a minutes, Aang dodging passers-by's, and Zuko gritting his teeth and looking straight down.

Suddenly, he was dropped to the ground with a soft thud. Aang was squatting, hands on his thighs, panting. "Where is she?" Zuko said.

Aang pointed at his forehead. A small red welt was starting to form. "Wha-"

"Why are ya following me, weirdo?" A sharp voice called out.

Zuko peeked out from behind Aang. The Bandit stood there, an accusing finger pointed right at Aang. Zuko immediately raised both hands, then realised she was blind, so was about to put them down, when -

"Keep your hands up." The Bandit said loudly. "Who are you?"

Zuko was stunned, but responded without hesitation. "Crown Prince Zuko, from the Fire Nation."

The Bandit folded her arms across her chest. "Hah. And he's the Avatar, isn't he?"

"Er, actually he is." Zuko scratched his chin awkwardly.

"Like I'd believe you. The Avatar is dead, dum-dum."

"I'm not!" Aang retorted, nursing his forehead.

"Prove it!" The Bandit stuck out her tongue at Aang.

Aang huffed, then with a quick flick of both hands, the Bandit was lifted from the ground. She screamed angrily, and a hail of tiny rocks started to ricochet around haphazardly. "Put! Me! Down!"

Aang did, and she pouted, but seemed to believe them now. "Alright, you're the Avatar. What do you want with me?"

Aang seemed more positive at that. "I want you as my Earthbending Master!"

The Bandit laughed. "Why should I teach you?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes. "Because the world needs Aang now more than ever! The Water Tribe needs to be stopped, and you need to help him. He needs an Earthbending master so he can-"

"-Master all four elements, yes I know. But why should _I_ teach you?"

Aang thought for a minute. "Because you're the best teacher for me."

The Bandit paused for a moment, and a smile started to crawl across her face. "Mm. Alright."

Aang jumped at this. "What? Alright?"

"Yeah. Okay. I _want_ to leave."

Aang grasped Zuko's hand (Zuko immediately withdrew his, curling his lip at Aang), a huge smile on his face. "Did you hear that?" He said in a happy whisper.

"I heard that!" The Bandit said.

"Me too." Zuko said.

"Then let's go!" Aang said excitedly. He was about to rush off when the Bandit stopped him.

"Stop." She looked a bit flustered at this. "I'm only thirteen, ya know. I have parents."

"Oh." Aang seemed a bit sad at this - he didn't have any parents. Zuko as well - his were negligent.

Aang suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, _you're_ thirteen?"

The Bandit ignored him. "But I don't mind leaving." She continued. "But I would like to say goodbye."

"Okay." Zuko said. "Then we will walk you over."

"Spirits, whats the rush, Hot Man?"

"World destruction doesn't work on a schedule." Zuko muttered.

"I HEARD THAT!" The Bandit hissed. "But give me till tonight. I'll meet you guys at the stadium."

Aang nodded. "Alright. We'll see you there." Zuko was still upset about the Bandit's angry attitude, so he just sneered. Aang gave him a firm nudge in the ribs, and Zuko quickly wiped it off his face, but still did not smile.

"See you." He said as well.

As they walked off, Aang mused, "I just realised we didn't ask for her real name."

"Maybe its still just the Bandit."

The evening quickly came, but the Bandit did not. They waited at the stadium for at least half an hour, but she did not arrive. Zuko was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently, and it was obviously driving Aang crazy. At one point, Aang has placed his own foot on Zuko's firmly, but eventually Zuko's foot broke free and continued its incessant tapping.

"Where is she?" Aang said, even his cheerfulness sounding strained at this point. The Avatar was many things, among them the most impatient person he'd ever met.

"Not sure. Maybe we should do find her."

So they started strolling around, peeking into windows and searching for the Bandit. After a while, they started hearing a loud shouting. It sounded a lot like the Bandit, but it was coming from a large house surrounded by a wall, the only entrance being a beautiful gate at the front. Zuko peeked in. The garden was lush and pruned, and the house was quite luxurious. Surely it couldn't be the place. Out of nowhere, there was a bang, and the door flew open, and the Bandit came storming out. She noticed Zuko, and started making slashing motions, wanting him to get out of sight, so he did, but continued to peek around the wall into the garden.

"I'm leaving, Father!" The Bandit shouted. "So stop trying to stop me."

A skinny older man, with a look of horror on his face, rushed to the Bandit, and tried to take her hand, but she ripped it out of his grip. "Daughter, but you are blind! You will get hurt…"

"I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world!" She responded, and Zuko noticed the ground cracking underneath her feet.

"But you're blind, darling." A woman rushed out from behind the man, the same look of horror in her eyes. "You'll never survive!"

"Yes, I will!" The Bandit stepped away from her parents but seemed to hesitate. "Look, I'll write, okay?"

Her parents looked almost faint. "Daughter, don't…" The father said weakly.

The Bandit seemed affected by her parents desperation. "I'll come back safe, and a hero, alright guys? I'll write. I'll write." She said it over, like it was going to make them feel better.

"Goodbye."

The Bandit started walking away quickly, ignoring her mothers whimpering. Zuko could see her father's eyes water and fill with fear. The Bandit reached the gate, and pushed it open roughly.

"That was embarrassing." She said, laughing a little.

"Are you okay?" Aang said. Both of them knew she only said that to make herself seem unaffected. She was blind, but Zuko could see the guilt in her eyes.

"What are you talking about? I'm totally fine. I wanted to get out of that madhouse anyways." Her voice cracked a little, and she started coughing. "So, where are we going?"

Zuko looked back at her parents, who were starting at the gate, stunned. "Er, I think we're just going to travel around the Earth Kingdom. I'm pretty sure that the Water Princess is after us."

"Sounds fun to me." The Bandit shrugged, and tossed her sack over her shoulder.

They continued for a while in silence, until Aang suddenly piped up, "Hey, we don't know each others names yet!"

The Bandit laughed. "I've run off with two guys, and I don't even know their names. If my parents heard that…" She trailed off.

"I'm Prince Zuko. Zuko is fine." Zuko said quickly.

"And I'm Aang. The Avatar." Aang puffed out his chest proudly.

The Bandit repeated both of their names, turning her face in their directions at each name. She nodded, then said, "My turn I guess. I'm Toph. Toh Beifong. Nice to meet ya, team."

—

They sat down at a porridge house near the house. Toph had complained about being hungry and Zuko reckoned she wouldn't shut up until she ate something, so they decided to eat before they left. Zuko ate some spring rolls and stared at the map at the same time, while Toph downed a bowl of porridge in a few quick gulps, and immediately ordered more. Rice grains stuck around her mouth.

"Y'know, I sorta did believe you at first, when you said you were the Avatar." Toph said.

"Really?" Aang looked excited.

"Yeah. If I'm being honest, a lot of people are starting to believe that you are still alive." She said. "So I really thought for a second that you were the real deal. Guess you were, but I thought after that you were some conman or something."

Zuko felt a flash of alarm. "So people are spreading rumours that Aang's back?"

"Of course." Toph wiped the corner of her mouth with her sleeve. "People have been seeing you zip around town, Aang."

Zuko buried his face in his hands. "Ugh!"

"What's his deal?" Toph hissed to Aang. Pang shrugged.

"What if the Water Tribe finds out? Oh spirits…" Zuko grumbled. "I don't want the Water Tribe after us."

Toph stuck out her chest proudly. "It's alright. I'm the greatest earth bender in the world. I can defeat them."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Fighting one-on-one is very different from fighting a battalion, Toph!"

"Doesn't matter." Toph replied, her raising her chin in defiance.

"Ugh."

Aang reached across the table to Zuko. "Toph is right. We can defend ourselves. And he have Appa as well. We can just, fly off, you know?" Zuko did not reply, so he kept talking. "Anyways, where are we going?"

Zuko pointed towards a tiny island. "Here. Kyoshi Island."

Toph nodded in recognition. "Why?"

Zuko pondered on that for a minute. He didn't actually have a reason. "Why not?"

"Fair enough."

—

100AG

30th Day of the 8th Month

Sokka woke up with a start. He almost fell out of the tree he was perched in. "Spirits," he grumbled, trying to stretch a knot in his shoulders. He'd been sleeping in trees or on the hard ground for several nights now, so it was taking its toll on his body - now packed with splinters, ant bites and sore spots. He shimmied down the tree and tied his things around his chest. At this point, he had completely lost his way, and he had started to wander, just trying to find some civilisation. Yesterday, he had found a little island with a little village, and he had decided to head over and check it out. He hadn't met anyone yet, and honestly he was hoping he wouldn't, but today he was going to go check out the little village.

"I don't have anything to be afraid of, really," Sokka said, looking at his green and brown Earth Kingdom clothes. "They won't suspect a thing with me in these clothes." But he knew what made him so afraid - he knew he was Water Tribe and thought that it was written right across his forehead that he was. It certainly felt like it, and because of it he had developed a habit of checking his reflection in his sword and rubbing his forehead vigorously now and then.

He started stumbling in a random direction, one which he believed was in the direction of the village. He didn't have to walk long - that was how small the island was, and he soon saw a plume of smoke rising above the tree canopy, marking the village out easily. He squatted behind a bush and peeked out from behind, observing the villagers move around. They seem ordinary enough, but suddenly he noticed a white face. No…scratch that, White and red and black makeup on a female face. A green and black uniform, and gold headpiece. Two women warriors were strolling down the road, and he stared, incredulous. Who were they? Gold…what looked like fans hung at their waists, and a shield on their backs. Sokka moved to the next bush to keep them in sight. After a while of watching in the bushes, he started to contemplate walking into the village. He walked slowly to behind one of the houses, and kept to the shadows. When he was out in the open, he kept his face tilted more downwards, but not too downwards that it became suspicious.

As he walked, he started to realise how much he was enjoying this. Where there were no talks and battle and who to attack next, or the stifling presence of his father and sister, and Arnook. Then his thoughts drifted to Bato, when suddenly a hawk landed right in front of him, squawking loudly at him. Sokka's heart jumped, and he immediately ripped the letter out of the hawk's talons, scared to attack attention. He drifted to the side to read the letter, immediately recognising… _Bato's_ handwriting.

 _Sokka: I know why you left. I have wanted to do the same for years, and this just proves that you are the braver one. Seek the Avatar, and help him. When our descendants remember the Water Tribe, it would be nice to have a redeemer amongst us. In the meantime, this coward remains behind and sends you luck and courage. Bato._

Sokka read it once twice, thrice. So he wasn't alone in this. He felt braver after the letter, and felt even more determined to find the Avatar now. He could feel the desperation in his heart swelling up and overflowing. So his quest was not so bad after all.

Suddenly, he heard a thud. There, nearby, a horrible creature landed near, white and furry, and large eyes. On its back, three people, but almost immediately, he recognised one. He gasped, and instinctively darted behind the house he was standing near, and quickly stuffed the letter in his pocket.

'

"We're here!" He heard a boy exclaim.

"I can see that," A lower voice said. He sounded annoyed.

The third person remained silent, and Sokka hoped that he was not spotted.

"Now what?" The boy said, maintaining the volume he had before.

"Shh. Not so loud. Maybe we should introduce ourselves." The gruff voice sounded sarcastic, but Sokka didn't understand why so. It would be sarcastic for his to say he shoud introduce himself to others, but what was so special about these people? Were they runaways? Were they delinquents? Maybe they could be friends.

The third person still was silent. A voice pierced the air - female and high strung, but still powerful. "Who are you? And what do you want here?" Pokka could just hear the sound of metal scraping as something opened.

"I am Zuko," _Zuko?! Prince Zuko?_ "And this is Aang. He's the-"

"I'm the Avatar." The boy said proudly.

Sokka gasped loudly, but not after he slapped a hand over his mouth. The Avatar? Here? Sokka wondered: How could that have been to convenient?

The woman continued interrogating, but Sokka was more absorbed in trying to figure out a way to approach them. Should he go now, wave and introduce himself as Sokka, Water Tribe Prince? Or maybe he should approach them after, at night maybe, and find them after everyone is gone? Or maybe he should just follow them, and "accidentally" meet them? HIs mind was going over every possibility, he didn't even notice the third person say "Who's that?" And the sound of soft footsteps in his direction…

He only noticed when he felt cold earth curl around his ankles and wrists. He looked up, his heart beating out of his chest, looking straight into the milky green eyes of Toph Bei Fong.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

100AG

30th Day of the 8th Month

"Honestly, I can explain," Sokka begged, annoyed that Toph had kept him in these heavy cuffs.

Zuko glared him down. "You MUST be a spy."

"No! I'm not!" Sokka groaned, exasperated. He had heard that the Fire Prince was eternally suspicious. "I want to help you, spirits!"

The Avatar seemed to consider him. "He could be helpful, like telling us about the Water Tribe and stuff, Zuko."

"Aang, how can we trust him? He's probably a spy. Otherwise why would he hide behind a house?"

Toph rolled her eyes. "Um, if you were in enemy territory, _you_ would hide Zuko. What else are you going to do? Stroll down the main road?"

Zuko huffed. "Fine. But he's still Water Tribe. How can we trust him."

Toph rolled her eyes. "I can tell when someone is lying. I can feel peoples heartbeats and it speeds up when you lie. And I could tell you if he's lying, but , it's kind of hard, because his heart is beating faster than a jackrabbit because of you."

Zuko scowled and started to back off. Sokka looked to Toph, but she did not face him.

"Are you really here to join us?" Toph said after a while, letting Sokka calm down for a minute. He made sure to breathe in and out slowly to relax a little. He inhaled slowly, then exhaled.

"Yes."

Toph nodded. "He's not lying."

Zuko continued to eye him suspiciously, but seemed to trust Toph. The Avatar moved closer to Sokka. "Well looks like you're one of us now. I'm Aang. The Avatar."

"Sokka." Sokka said breathily. He had felt so terrified before this, now that he was sort of safe, he felt exhausted.

They stayed like that awkwardly for a while, until Sokka broke the silence. "Er, Toph." He pushed hard against his cuffs. "A little help, please?"

Toph didn't even look at him, and wordlessly removed them. Pokka rubbed his wrists, slightly brusied from the hard rock pushing up against it for so long. The Kyoshi Warrior in the corner started forward when he moved, but did not unsheathe her weapon. "What are you going to do now, Avatar Aang?" She asked. If Sokka recalled correctly, her name was Suki.

"Could we stay?" Aang said hopefully.

Suki smiled. "Of course."

And that was how Sokka joined them, bruised dishevelled and extremely awkward. The letter from Bato suddenly feeling a whole lot lighter, he followed them, astonished at how trusting they were. If he had been Katara or Arnook, then they would have managed to get in so easily, and destroy them so easily.

Sokka felt glad that it had been him that met them first. Later, he would share that he knew that his sister would come soon. He had no idea where she was, but he had heard rumours of the defeat of Omaha and the Water Princess being the killer of King Bumi, so she must be there. He hoped to the spirits that she was anywhere near.

—

100AG

31th Day of the 8th Month

Zuko was still suspicious of Sokka. The Water Tribe Prince seemed to like sleeping, eating, but remained relatively quiet. He was relieved of that last part - Aang and Toph combined made for some headache-instilling moments, but he couldn't help but feel suspicious of the Prince.

He was too casual, and too ready to share things. He had already talked about Princess Katara, Arrluk

and his father Hakoda. Zuko was keeping alert, for any holes in his story, choosing to ignore the sincerity in Sokka's eyes as he told them these things. Zuko was certain he was a very good actor. All Water Tribe people were so well-versed in lying it was second nature to them.

Sokka, on the other hand, was in constant fear of Zuko. While he didn't lie about anything, he couldn't help but feel like he was lying, because of Zuko's constant, and unwavering stare.

But he tried to keep his cool, and he was hoping he was getting rid of the other Prince's suspicions one by one.

But just before noon, while Zuko sat leaned up against the wall, still musing on Sokka's legitimacy, when he noticed the Kyoshi Warriors rushing down the hill in a certain direction. "What's going on?" He stopped one of them, grabbing her by the shoulder.

"There's an attack!" She said, shaking free and shooting an annoyed look over her shoulder.

Oh god…hopefully it wasn't because of their arrival. He rushed into the house, and poked Aang and Toph in the ribs. "Wake up, there's an attack, guys."

Toph woke up slowly, but Aang jumped to his feet, grabbing his staff. "Toph! There's a chance for you to PROVE IT!" Zuko said loudly in her ear.

"Prove what?" Toph muttered.

"That you're the greatest earthbender in the world?"

"Been there, done that. Check out my belt."

Zuko almost screamed. He grasped her by the shoulders and almost lifted her up himself.

"PUT ME DOWN!" Toph landed a hard hit on his face. "I'm going!"

The three of them ripped out of the house, following the Kyoshi Warriors. Sokka was nowhere to be seen, but Zuko didn't really care. They rushed downwards, where the Kyoshi Warriors were, and Zuko noticed that many of them lay unconcious around the area. There was a huge mass of people at the base, and as the crowd parted, Zuko realised who was here. Katara.

"Aang, get our stuff and get to Appa now. We need to get out of here. The Water Princess is here." Zuko hissed. Aang looked bewildered. "Just go. I don't need her seeing you right now. Toph, go with him. I'll distract her."

Toph groaned, but dragged Aang back. Zuko felt a little bad, but he quickly headed down. The Princess was certainly formidable - she had brought some reinforcements, and they were managing the warriors just fine. Her eyes fixed on his the minute that he entered within her line of sight. He didn't know if she knew him, but there was something in her eyes - a flash of recognition that made him think she did. She dashed in his direction, and before he could see it, he could see the water slashing towards hi. He evaded sending blue-hot fire in her direction. She darted away, but they continued to spar, Zuko's teeth grinding hard against each other, so hard he thought he might wear them down t stumps. He glanced behind to see if Aang and Toph were coming, but in that moment, she got him. Before he even realised, he was pinned to the ground, his arms caked in ice. She walked over to him, and leaned far down, close to his face.

"Nice try, Prince. It would be a shame for me to hurt your pretty face." A barb of ice formed around her finger, she was about to do he-didn't-know-what when Zuko heard a scream, and Sokka flew out of nowhere, knocking Katara right off him. Zuko wasted no time in melting his cuffs and getting behind Sokka, throwing a burst of flame at the stunned Princess. He could see that he had hit her, and he heard it too. She screeched, and a hand flew to her shoulder.

"What a pretty Princess you are, Katara." Zuko snarled at her. "Such a shame I hurt you." Katara slammed ice pellets right into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He expected a retort, but she seemed more occupied with her brother.

"Brother…" She said, betrayal trembling in her voice. "How dare you betray us."

"I wish you could understand, Katara," Sokka said. Zuko could hear Appa land behind them. He started to move towards the bison, but kept his eye on Sokka and Katara. At this point, some of the Kyoshi Warriors were starting to gain upperhand, and were looking for a new target. Their eyes were clamped on Katara. But she remained still, staring in incredulity at her brother.

"We're your family," Katara whispered.

"You still are," Sokka replied. "But the world is bigger."

Zuko clambered onto the bison's back, helped by Aang. Toph shouted, "Sokka! Hurry!"

Katara grabbed Sokka's wrist. "Come back, there's still a chance. Don't leave now."

Sokka couldn't reply, because a Kyoshi Warrior had launched herself at Katara. Katara threw one last desperate look at Sokka, but Sokka had turned away already. Zuko watched the Princess. Her fighting suddenly became a lot harder, angrier, as she saw her brother run away. He noticed that the wound he had inflicted had little to no impact on the girl. He could feel a little bit of envy and admiration at the girl's bravery and toughness. He wondered if he could still fight after a burn. It would definitely scar.

He found himself looking at her a little bit too long, when he realised that Sokka had (quite loudly) managed to haul himself onto the bison, and when the bison thumped its tail against the ground with a loud bang, and they were launched into the air. He looked back at the princess, who stared back at her brother, but suddenly, once again, they looked gaze. He saw something in her, that made him wonder if she really was that bad after all.

He shook his head, then started to look through his bag for the map.

—

"God Sokka, next time touch wood when you say your sister might come," Toph complained when they had flew for at quite some time.

"I'm sorry," Sokka said earnestly. "But maybe it shows that I have good intuition and you guys should believe everything I say."

"That's not what I meant, idiot." Toph said, smacking Sokka on the top of the head.

Aang looked towards Zuko. "So now what?"

Zuko traced a long finger along the map. "Our best bet is find a nice deserted area for Toph to train Aang. Then we can do all our stuff in private, where no one can see us. Maybe we can skirt the desert? I think that will be a good idea. There's some villages, so we can get food if we need it."

He looked at the group. "Sound good to you guys?"

"Yeah, whatever." Toph said. Aang echoed her. Sokka was looking back, but quickly looked back at them.

"Sounds good to me. But we can't stay anywhere too long. I have a weird feeling that Katara is going to come after me."

Zuko pursed his lips. Of course she would - how inconvenient. Now they would have to outsmart the damn Water Princess. There was nothing he could do about it, but, it would still be nice if they could just get her off their back. He thought for a minute. Now with Sokka, that would be hard. Spirits, why did they have to drag the Water Prince along?

He looked at Sokka, polishing his sword with his shirt. He had an intense look in his eye. Zuko mused for a moment. Perhaps there was something about him that he didn't see yet. After all, he had saved his life. "Hey Sokka," Zuko found himself say suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for saving me back there." Zuko said, as warmly as he could. He could feel Aang's expectant and surprised gaze on him. "Your sister could have mauled my face back then."

"No problem, that's what a team is for," Sokka said awkwardly, as if he had even been in the 'team' for so long, hence the awkwardness.

"Thanks." Zuko finished gruffly. Sokka went back to polishing, polishing now with a refreshed vigour, and a tiny smile on his face.

Zuko felt surprised at himself. He never said thank you.

Aang seemed equally surprised at Zuko's sudden change. "You've never said thank you to me." He murmured. "You're getting soft, Zuko."

Zuko narrowed his eyes at the airbender. "Not soft, just grateful." He replied. That still set a smile on Aang's face.

Thank you, Zuko mouthed. Thank you. He was not used to saying those words.

100AG

15th Day of the 10th Month

Aang threw himself at the boulder, cracking it clean in two. Toph stood by, watching, looking extremely triumphant. Zuko and Sokka sat side by side, sharing a melon. Sokka looked serene, and watched both of them intensely. His sword lay by his side. Zuko had started teaching him Fire Nation sword techniques, and vice versa with Sokka to him. Now they were taking a break, and watching Aang perfect the "boulder slice". Toph had blindfolded him, so he could feel the seismic forces in the ground, and Aang was bruised from the many rocks that had run straight into him because of his failure to sense it. Toph had no mercy however, and Zuko admired her for it.

Even he would have felt bad if Aang had gotten really hurt during his fire bending training. Sokka finished his melon slice and tossed it over his shoulder.

"What now, bro?" He said, reaching for his sword. "More practice?"

Zuko shared a knowing look with Sokka. "Nah." He said. "Let's keep eating."

Zuko had warmed up to Sokka in the last few weeks. It had been two months since they had met and Sokka joined the group, and Zuko's suspicion and skeptical feelings towards Sokka had been erased as soon as Sokka was in the group for a couple more days. In that time, he had helped them fend off some bandits, and had started to teach them a few Water Tribe techniques and strategies - which had totally worked in Zuko's mind. So now they sat, watching the two benders, a melon between them, swords by their sides.

"Aang's getting good." Sokka remarked. Sokka was easily impressed, so whatever Aang did, no matter how mediocre and amateur, Sokka regarded with wonder and admiration. Zuko, on the other hand, had only been mildly impressed by Aang just now, when he managed to cut the gigantic boulder in half.

"He's getting somewhere." Zuko replied.

Just as he said that, Toph exclaimed triumphantly, "You're a Master, Aang!"

Zuko and Sokka both sat up ramrod straight. They looked at each other in surprise; Zuko more than Sokka. "No way." Zuko said. "No. Way." Sokka said in agreement.

They rushed over to Toph, badgering her with questions. She pushed them both away with both hands.

"He's a master alright. Or maybe almost there. By the end of the year, he will definitely be a master. He sure does act oblivious sometimes, but he's a quick learner." Even Toph seemed a little taken aback. "Even I couldn't get all this so quickly."

"Looks like someone else is the greatest earth bender in the world, Toph." Sokka taunted snarkily.

Toph punched him hard. Sokka grunted. "Avatar doesn't count as an earthbender, idiot." She insisted, as Aang managed to cut down another boulder.

Aang turned to his friends. "Did you see that!"

"Yes," Toph replied, stopping the next boulder in its tracks. "Now, we spar." She said, sending a blade of earth in the Avatar's direction. Sokka quickly ushered Zuko away, Zuko angrily shoving off Sokka's arm, as they returned to the melon to get far away from the sparring benders, and out of range of any residue from the spar. As they tucked into the rest of the melon, Zuko suddenly felt triumphant. This was honestly going a lot better than he ever thought it would. Perhaps the future did look bright after all.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

100AG

30th Day of the 10th Month

They ended up staying around practicing Earthbending for a little while more, until one day, Toph decided enough was enough, and she was tired of teaching Aang the things he was perfecting already. So Zuko had started to take over with Firebending lessons, and Aang started to pick those up as well relatively quickly. So there was nothing left to do but go in search of a water bending master. So they immediately turned to Sokka for help.

Sokka pried every fold of his mind for a possible master, but the only name he managed to push out was a weak, "Katara?"

Toph had punched him in the same place she always did, and as he exclaimed, "What was that for?" She did not reply, and turned her head away from him.

Zuko, however, looked quite serious. "Maybe…maybe."

Sokka suddenly felt scared. "I don't think that is a really good idea. She's really angry, why would she align with us. There has to be a catalyst, then we can try to get her on our side, y'know?"

Zuko seemed to plunge deeper into thought. "Good idea. Could we be the catalyst?"

"Zuko. Why are you taking this seriously?" Toph whined. "She is never going to join us. I reckon she'd rather kill us than join us."

Zuko shrugged his shoulder in innocence. "Do you have a better idea?"

"No." Toph said proudly.

"Maybe we can find a defector." Aang said.

Sokka thought for a minute. "Possible, but if a waterbender defected then I doubt that they would be alive. The Water Tribe doesn't care much about normal ordinary commoners defecting, but waterbenders are a different story."

"You guy's sure do make it hard, don't you?" Zuko groaned.

"Hard as ice." Aang chipped in. Zuko scowled.

"Let's just chill for a bit." Toph added. When Zuko flicked at her forehead, she protested, "That was not intentional! Anyways, let's just relax and enjoy ourselves a little bit! We've only been practicing and eating and practicing and eating. Let's have a feast!"

And so they did. Sokka enjoyed himself very, very much.

A few days after the feast, the group decided that they should start looking for a teacher. Aang reckoned if they looked long enough, they would find someone. Everyone knew it would be hardest to get a waterbending teacher, so they were glad they still had time. But Zuko could feel something coming, and he was right. As they were taking a break, eating sausage and fruit cake, a hawk landed by Zuko, holding a roll of crisp white parchment, stamped with a Fire Nation seal. He plucked the scroll free and unfurled it. His friends gathered around him and read it together with him.

 _Zuko: Come back. Father needs you. -Azula_

Sokka seemed a little upset over this note, especially after Zuko said he must go. "You're leaving me with the little kids?" He exclaimed (in front of Toph), which was a mistake because she punched him again.

"Sorry," Zuko said. "But I won't disobey the Fire Lord." He said, emphasising the last two words. Sokka, still disgruntled, had to agree.

Aang seemed upset too. "Gosh, I haven't been without you since I woke up, Zuk."

"Don't call me Zuk." Zuko insisted. "But I have to go. No such thing as getting away with disobeying the Fire Lord."

—

Ozai called for this daughter for the second time that day. "Please tell me again what you told me yesterday."

The Princess told him. Ozai nodded, a look of anger crossing his face. "Thank you." A servant appeared at the main entrance. "The prince is here."

"Show him in," Ozai ordered. As the Prince entered, Ozai opened his arms wide, but his son did not come forward to hug him. "Prince. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? It has been so long."

The Prince nodded. "It has been too long. Have you received my letters?"

"Yes, and read every single one of them," Ozai lied. "How I miss my son."

The Prince smiled, just a little bit. Ozai could tell that that pleased the Prince. He continued on. "What have you learned on your journey, my son?"

"A lot, father. I feel it will come to a close soon."

Ozai looked down at his son with an intensity that surprised the Prince. There was a glimmer of something to be feared in his all too-knowing eyes. "Firebending, perhaps?"

The Prince started. "Of course not Father. I would never."

Ozai felt his palms grow warm. He felt he could burn the wood of his throne.

"Learning with the Avatar, I hear," Ozai continued. He could see the fear in the Prince's eyes - all signalling his guilt.

"No. I am not. I am alone."

"Don't lie, brother." His daughter emerged from behind the throne. "I helped you. But I was the only one who was honest."

"Azula." The Prince sneered. "You are jealous! That's why you told him!"

Ozai suddenly felt the flame flare up in him, and fire burst from his palm. "She told me the truth! Unlike my lying son standing in front of me right now, deceiving and lying straight to my face. No one lies to the Fire Lord. Do you honestly think that I can accept that, Prince?"

"Father, forgive me, but the world needs Aang's help-"

"So an ungrateful son who does not heed his father's wishes now makes excuses? How dare you. You were just looking for an escape, so you can learn to firebend. So you can defeat me?"

"No, father, I would never!"

"If that is what you want, then I accept your challenge. I challenge you to Agni Kai."

The Prince appeared hopeless, his arms hanging limp by his waist. The tears seemed to glimmer in his eyes. Ozai sneered at the pathetic excuse of a son. A liar, a deceiver. Going behind his back could only end one way.

Ozai stalked down the staircase going up to the throne, and led his son to the courtyard. The Prince was not angry, but instead miserable. His face had gotten paler and Ozai could see the defeat in his eyes already. His fingers were clenched into his fists, and he was biting his lip. Ozai walked over to his side of the courtyard, and the Prince took his. The Princess sat by the side, her eyes filled with glee.

"Come on, Prince, show your fire bending skills now. What have you mastered?" Ozai taunted, staring straight across at his son.

"I will not fight you, father." The Prince replied.

"Don't be afraid of hurting me. You will barely graze me. I, however, am someone you should be afraid of hurting _you_."

The Prince remained still. Ozai was getting tired of waiting.

"I will not fight you." The Prince started to walk away.

Ozai suddenly felt desperate, and something in him screamed as his son walked away. If he leaves, you lose. Ozai watched his son move slowly to the exit, his heart screaming for him to do something. So he did. His heart filled with rage, and the defiance, the nerve, of the Prince, and sent a wall of fire towards him, engulfing the side of the Prince's face, and now the Prince screamed. He clutched his face, and cried out. HIs cries echoed around the empty courtroom.

Then above the crackling of the fire, and the agonising screams of the Prince, rose the cackling laughter of the Princess, who held her stomach as she laughed.

Ozai glided across the courtyard, and the laughing Princess followed, leaving the Prince lying in the sand, the blood dripping down his face, the pain infesting his body, the fire seeping deep into his flesh, burning it forever.


	15. Chapter 14

**Reader: Thank you very much. Enjoy this one!**

Chapter 14

100AG

10th Day of the 11th Month

Sokka woke up out of nowhere, after hearing the screams for the seventh time in the past few days. He frantically looked around, trying to find the source, but did not. He turned to his left out of habit, but to his disappointment, Zuko was not there. Aang was there instead, snoring loudly, but not as loudly as Toph on his other side, even though her face was buried deep into her satchel.

The three of them had tried to reach their friend, but had received no message from them since he had left. Aang had started to worry, and Sokka could tell that Toph was as well, even though she seemed indifferent. Sokka, on the other hand, had a sinking feeling when he thought of his friend. He hoped that he was okay.

Meanwhile, far away, a young man stumbled through the streets of Ba Sing Se, his long hair covering his face, lying across his face in greasy clumps. He almost fell at the doorstep of a tea house, and scratched his fingernails against the door weakly, so it emitted a weak whining sound. Nevertheless, the door creaked open and an old man stood there, confused. The moment his eyes fell on the young man, he gasped loudly and immediately hauled the young man into his arms. He tenderly pushed the hair away from the young man's face, but did not cringe at the sight that beheld him. Instead, he touched the man's cheek gently, and helped him inside.

While all this was happening, equally far away, Azura was talking to her father over the dinner table. His steely eyes were happier than usual, and the woman knew exactly why. He speared his food with his fork, but not out of anger, but woman slid the parchment on her father's side over to her, and reread it once again. It contained maybe things, but above all, both of them were extremely pleased at the news that construction had gone underway and was almost finished. She fantasised being on one of the balloons, the wind in her hair, the smell of smoke and burning. She slid the papers back towards her father, and continued with her meal.

At the same time, just as far away as everyone else, Katara sat on a river bank, her eyes starting deep into its depths. She dipped a toe in, and immediately withdrew. She slipped in, and doused her entire body in the cool water. She winced as her fingers lathered the her upper arm, where she could still feel the raised welt of her scar. It did not hurt, but the memory of getting it did. But she continued bathing, not focusing so much on the bathing as much as her plans. She was still deciding what to do next. There were many possibilities that she could pursue, and most of them including trying to get back her brother, but perhaps there were other ways to go about it. She wondered if perhaps the Earth city would do. She would have to get information somewhere, and there was always someone who knew something back there. She nodded at her own idea. It seemed pretty good to her.

Somewhere far away, not far from where many of those previously mentioned were, thousands hammered and melded, wrenched and toiled at a huge plate of metal, and sewed and weaved at miles of cloth.

100AG

20th Day of the 12th Month

Ozai received the announcement with such a glee, many say that it shook the entire castle. Almost immediately, he sent an imperial order - attack. This was because just months they had received intelligence of an impending Wave Tribe attack, and just recently learnt that the Water Tribe had started their approach. Ozai had been determined to foil it, so now their war balloons were built, nothing could stand in their way. He could feel the victory in his hands already - warm and pulsating, and it made him yearn for even more."

Katara ate facing the sea, wondering how much longer for her till she got to Ba Sing Se. She chewed on a hard hunk of bread, gnawing away at the crust. She honestly couldn't wait - there was nothing she craved more than a hot cup of tea. Yet she noticed something on the horizon. Something large, and shiny, and a dark shade of red. She felt her heart jump. She stepped onto the water, and a small sale of ice formed between her feet and the water. Soon, she was pushing herself towards the sky-thing on a huge slab of ice, going faster than was recommended, but still less than she dared. She started downwards, and after a couple minutes it became clearer. The thing, was a balloon, and many of them in fact. At least a good platoon, and Katara could immediately tell that it was Fire Nation from the Fire Emblem on it. Katara was suddenly overtaken by fear. She wondered what they were doing there, and why they would go there.

She continued downwards, and started to grow even more intrigued. She started downwards, and suddenly realised that the further they went, the inkling started to grow in her that it was a battle she was sailing herself into.

And before she knew it- she saw the blue sails of her fathers fleet.

Katara almost screamed out. Instead, she channelled into the water, which started to churn. She burst forward, and threw up white foam behind her, as the slab of ice ripped forwards, almost cutting the sea in two. But before she could even get within five hundred meters of the two colliding fleets, the Fire Nation channelled a column of fire at the Water fleet, and half of the front line of ships burst into blue and red flames. Katara, this time, screamed out, and threw herself and the ice forward with all her might. All she could see was the column of fire, and the Water Tribe fleet tearing down in fire.

The second air balloon shot another column of fire at the fleet, igniting the rest of the front fleet. Katara was almost reaching them now. She screamed out for them to retreat, hoping that her father could hear him. She could tell that he was there - she could see his insignia on the boats. She was just in by them right now, and she pushed forward with the rest of her energy and threw up her arms with all her might.

Everything after that seemed like it was in slow motion. She could feel the water following her, the entire wave reaching upwards as high as her hands reached. She twisted her fingers around into a fist, and could feel the cold ice sink into her bones. Her eyes had been screwed shut the entire time, but now they opened. She saw the burning fleet first, still aflame but starting to retreat. She prayed with all her might that they would get away in time. She turned around, and saw through the ice, the distorted line of air balloons behind it. She looked to her right and left, and realised that she had somehow managed to pull up a wave of water at least a hundred metres to her left and right. Her hands quivered at the sight and thought of it. She twisted the ice around her ankles to keep her still, and she started to push forwards. The entire block of ice started to press forwards. She could hear the sound of metal scraping, but, she knew she would not be able to keep it up. In her heart, she knew that this would be a defeat, but the least she could do was protect the fleet as they retreated. She pushed forwards, and she hoped her father could see her. The ice creaked forward, and the saw through the ice wall that the air balloons were starting to back off. Yet, she could hear the quiet hiss of fire, and the warm glow of orange behind the ice wall. She realised suddenly that ice, did, in fact, melt by fire.

She felt a flash of dread, as soon as a column of fire burst through her wall of ice. She could feel the searing heat against her other arm, and she released the hold with one arm, to gather up another fountain of water in the other arm. She coiled the water around in a spiral, and threw it forwards, and pulled one of the air balloons downwards. She could feel the strength seeping out of her, as the air balloon put up a good fight. She released her hold, and the water came crashing downwards. She had somehow kept her wall up the entire time, but she twisted her feet to the side, and the slab of ice cracked away from the base of the wall. With the last ebb of her strength, and casting a glancing look over her shoulder, and broke away, and pushed the wall forwards, so it crashed straight into the line of balloons. As she went back to shore, it took everyone to keep her from falling.

The moment she collapsed on the riverbank, she dug her fingers deep into the soil, and clung on to it as she heaved in a breath. She felt as if the cold had sunk deep into her bones, and that she was dying of it. Even so, as she lay there, and as she managed to breath a little steadier, the warmth crept back into her body and her energy started ebbing back little by little.

Her limbs were like jelly, still, and even her lean body felt sore. She rolled over, her eyes staring up at the sky. She wasn't really sure what she felt. She could sense that she was sad, but at the same time, there was a tingle of triumph. She had never been able to bend that large a body of water, and successfully too, and she had paid the price for it - that was for sure. However, at the same time she felt a great feeling of dread - since when had the Fire Nation been able to make such huge and powerful machines? Were they now doomed because of this new technology? Katara sat up slowly, her arms shaking as she lifted her back from the ground. She leaned forwards, wrapping her arms around her knees so her chest was pressed against her legs.

The Fire Nation, surely wasn't the threat here?

As the Fire Nation troops retreated, the general in command sent a hawk straight to the Fire Lord. When he received it, he had burnt the letter in his rage. Defeated? By a waterbender? It was quite the feat of weakness for that to be possible. He stalked from the throne room, flame in hand, straight to the air ports. There he waited, waiting to make that the last letter the general in command would ever send.

However, even then, later at dinner, both he and the Princess agreed that it was a victory, especially since the Water Tribe had been stopped in their tracks and not advanced too close to the Fire Nation. Both experienced the sweet taste of victory, albeit a little sour because of the Waterbender, and thus a look between them confirmed their current sentiments - to taste victory again. Perhaps, a complete victory would be even more refreshing. Both Fire Lord and Princess could feel their fear waning, and their thirst intensify. The Fire Lord raised his glass, and the Princess gently touched hers to his.

"To the Fire Nation." He said proudly. He sipped his drink, and a little drop fell on his front. He wiped it away swiftly, wiping away the ash from earlier at the same time.

"To the Fire Nation," the Princess said in agreement, "and it's faithful labourers." The Fire Lord nodded, this time reminded to send out an order alter, appointing the labourers again to continue production.

—

"To the Fire Nation?" Iroh cried out.

Zuko nodded. "That's where I went, that's where," he winced. "I got-got… _this._ "

Iroh fell to his knees next to his nephew. He pressed a cup of warm tea into his cold hands. "Do not think of it, nephew. You are here now. So enjoy this tea while you are."

Zuko took.a tiny sip, then paused. "Uncle…"

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to be here for only a little while. Can I stay?"

Iroh laughed. "Now what kind of question is that?" He almost spilled his tea in his glee. "What other answer can I give but yes?" He pattered his nephews shoulder, looking at him with soft eyes, ones filled with grief.

"But where is my cousin?"

Iroh froze. Now his eyes started to tear with the grief. "He is gone, Zuko. He died months ago, during the Battle of Ba Sing Se."

Zuko did not reply for a long time. Iroh could not bring himself to look behind, because he knew his nephew was crying. "Finish your tea Zuko. That was his favourite flavour." He said quietly, before slipping out of the room.

Zuko sipped the tea again. Iroh felt the tears fall as his nephews did, the minute he was out of earshot. He set the teapot down, and slipped the portrait out of his inside pocket. He traced the face of the young man on the portrait, and remembered that day. Lu Ten…lying there, burnt and crisp, cruelly killed like an animal, by the most merciless of foes. He replaced the portrait in his inner pocket, picked up the teapot, and continued down the hall.

Zuko sipped the tea one last time, trying to keep his cool by downing the cup. But still, a rage built up inside of him, and with a ragged scream, he threw the cup straight at the door, the tea splattering the floor and door. He crouched down on the ground, burying his face in his knees and rocked back and forth, his tears not even falling due to his rage. He fell across the bedspread, and stayed there for the rest of the day.

The next day, Zuko awoke, plagued by nightmares of Ursa and Lu Ten, whispering around him as he tried to stay in this dream so he could memorise their faces and keep them with him forever. He tried to hold his mother's hand, but every time he reached out her hand moved away instantly. Lu Ten had a burnt up stump of an arm, and a pink, raw scar snaked down his neck. He had averted his eyes, and had turned to see his mother, but instead had found Ozai in her place, fireball in hand, ready to fling. He had woken up, sweating, hand pressed to the rough surface of the left side of his face. His body felt cold, even though he had dreamt of the Agni Kai, and his bones chattered, so he sat there, trembling, for a few minutes before his heartbeat slowed and so did his body.

Zuko smoothed his hair away from his face, but it kept falling forward in front of his face. For some reason, he felt deeply irritated by the warm thick layer of hair that now grew past his shoulders. He never had felt that, in all his years of having longer hair.

He saw the knife lying next to his bedspread; he picked it up gingerly, even though it was familiar to him. He slipped it into his belt and left the room quickly, and made his way to the back of the tea house. In the dark alley, lit only by the greyish light of early morning, in the shadow of the tea house, Zuko gathered his hair into a low ponytail, and dug the blade into the base of it, and sawed away at it. He felt the hair come away easily, and soon he held a hunk of hair in his hand, that which he dropped to the ground. His now shorter hair fell messily around his face, and as he ran his hand through it, he could feel that it probably stuck up in different directions, and probably was cut into numerous different lengths. He tried to gather it up into a Royal Bun, but most of his hair fell away immediately, and he felt suddenly emboldened. He placed his hand on his scar again, yet felt liberated by the fact his hair no longer hid it.

There was a strange happiness in showing his scar. Hiding it with long hair made him feel ashamed of it, yet exposing it had immediately made him feel brave.

He stared into his reflection in the knife blade, wincing at his reflection, before cutting away small hunks randomly, trying to flatten it a little, and when he was satisfied, he kicked the cut hair into the drain and walked back towards the tea house back door. As he walked back in, he turned and looked at the sun rise on the horizon, casting peachy hues far across Ba Sing Se.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

100AG

25th Day of the 12th Month

Katara breathed a deep sigh when she first entered the gates of Ba Sing Se. She had passed without detection, and had found lodging at a nearby tea house, and despite her constant fear, she had grown used to pretending it wasn't there. So she set down the road, sack slung over her shoulder, her body still sore from her bending feat a few days ago. The memory still clung to her like a burr, and she was still confused as to what she felt when she thought of it. It was a sort of weird cocktail of feelings - pride, fear, relief, and most of all, awe. She was sure that that was not the best thing to be feeling when the enemy defeated your people, but she was just as sure that the awe being awe of herself redeemed that feeling. She sometimes fantasised of bending that much water again, and wondered if one day, she could move with it, and push forward more than she did a couple days before.

She pushed through the bustling streets as quickly as she could, determined to get to the teahouse so she could relax. It had been too long since she had felt the hug of a warm bedspread, or the soft comfort of steaming hot jasmine tea. She asked directions when needed, but never stopped moving for more than a minute. She herself was amazed at the energy that she had managed to gather to push herself to this point - she had laid on that shore for a day after the battle, recuperating and healing her stiff joints, before trudging down towards Ba Sing Se, finally arriving two days later. She had expected herself to be exhausted after getting through the rigorous customs process, but instead, the minute she had entered the huge city, she was filled with a youthful energy. The city throbbed with life and it overwhelmed her five senses. The street food provided mouth-watering fragrance, and the hustle and bustle provided the (most welcome) noise. The well trod path beneath her provided a reassurance that she was in a good place, and the abundance of the cool greens and warm browns relaxed her. She had stopped to taste a few sweets, and they filled her with a childish joy that she had not felt in a long time.

She was struck with how exhausting it was to be alone. She had so missed being around people, and seeing and hearing then, and tasting their food, that even the city she had tried to invade was going to satisfy her after days of isolation. The people did not talk to her, but the crowds were so loud and rowdy that she felt that she was in a conversation - and everyone seemed to be talking to her. Even the raspy voices of the sellers, calling out to her to buy their goods, felt like blessed conversation with another person. The sweets were a welcome change from the hard bread and salty meat she had been eating lately as well. She did not even feel like a Water Tribe girl anymore - she felt like any other person, one just enjoying the day and the people round her as they were delightful.

Yet her mission hung over all this like a dark rain cloud. As she explored the streets and peeked into every pocket, it trailed her, reminding her that this would not last. After a while, she started to feel annoyed by its persistent presence, but knew nothing could have been done to get rid of it, unless she wanted to betray her people. This did cast a damper on her mood, and she thus traveled the rest of the way gnawing on a hard candy, brooding on the unfairness of it all - the minute she started to enjoy a normal life…this always happened.

She found the tea shop quite soon after her mood change. She already finished the hard candy and was starting on another one - it provided a great stress relief for her grinding teeth. She entered the front door, decorated prettily with green awning and dragon insignias. She found the cashier, who showed her to her room upstairs. They passed a few doors before reaching hers, and she was shown into a small, but comfortable and well-furnished room at the end of the hall. She set her things down, and threw the rest of her hard candies next to her bed. She fell onto the bed, and picked her identification out of her belt, rereading it. Now she was no longer Katara, but Kanna, and she was a Water Tribe refugee trying to find a better life in Ba Sing Se. She had suggested being an Earth Kingdom refugee instead to the forger back at home, but he had paid her no heed and gone the way he wanted. Either way, it got her in, and she did not think that anything would come out of it. Water Tribe refugees were treated just fine, and she knew how to lie, very well, if need be.

She suddenly remembered her tea craving, and made her way down for the desired cup. She sat at the side, next to a beautiful tapestry of a rose bush, and ordered a jasmine tea, which had been declared as the teahouse's best. She could smell the tea before it came, so when the waiter left, she immediately raised the cup to her lips, and first taste sent a shiver of delight down her spine. She downed the rest of the cup quickly, then wondered if free refills were in order, so decided to sit around a wait to see what would happen.

After.a couple minutes of sitting serenely and looking at other customers enjoy their team, a young man came over to refill her tea. She did not look up, and was more focused on watching the light green tea pour from the pot to the cup, and only looked up when the cup was filled. "Thank you," she said graciously, hand already closing around the cup. She looked straight at the waiter, and with a soft yelp, almost spilled her tea.

The waiter had a gruesome scar stretching down the left side of his face.

Katara recovered herself quickly, raising the glass and nodding, forcing a smile. The waiter had noticed the yelp, but seemed indifferent to it, and walked away quickly, the tray pressed hard against his chest. Katara drank this cup more slowly now, and started watching him go around the tables refilling tea. She could see now why he was so indifferent - most customers, regardless of how many visits he paid to their table, had a reaction when he approached. Her feelings of fear quickly changed to those of sympathy. She hoped that her face would not register the same amount of shock that it did the first time when he came to refill again.

She enjoyed her second cup of tea just as much as the last one, and when the scarred man arrived again, she made sure to smile and say thank you again, earning a slight incredulous look from him. As he walked away for the second time, Katara took her first sip of the third cup, and felt that this time, it tasted much better than the first and second time.

Later on that night, after going for dinner out of the teahouse, she passed the young man again at the cashier. This time, as she looked intently at him, she felt a strange feeling - like they had met before. Yet surely, a scar like that would be something to scar her memory? Then he looked up, and she quickly looked away, and made her way upstairs.

As she lay in her bed upstairs, she racked her memory for any memory of the scarred young man. Did he have the scar before they met? Then perhaps that was why she could not recognise him. She made a mental note to take a look at the unharmed, right side of his face tomorrow. Katara was determined not to let this little mystery slip through her fingers. She, personally, found delight in solving the little mysteries that life presented to her, as they tended to swamp her mind more than the big ones did. Her father called it procrastination, and perhaps it was that, but that didn't matter now. She had new mission now, and it made her anticipate the next day.

26th Day of the 12th Month

The next day, as the sun filtered in through her blinds, Katara awoke with a renewed vigour. She had felt so unlike herself these last few hours - she had not felt angry or thought of the war for the longest period of time yet, and it made her heart feel good and peaceful. She felt as if she was a completely different person, one that had bigger problems that fighting, and one who was not a Princess of the Water Tribe. Surprisingly, she found this refreshing, and she swore to enjoy it for as long as it lasted.

She made her downstairs, remembering her mini-mystery. Despite this, she still did not want to eat breakfast at a tea-house (no one did that), so she decided to eat opposite of it. As she sat down, she suddenly realised that the scarred man was sitting opposite her, and had taken notice of her as well. She watched him with wide blue eyes, the menu in her hands. He looked away, his eyes flashing with some sort of indiscernible emotion, and so, so did she. She ordered her breakfast - some toasted bread and fruit - and looked back over her menu, trying to get a side view of the right side. Unfortunately, he did not move his head in the necessary angle, so she had no chance.

Her food arrived, and her attention shifted, and she paid no more to the scarred man. She ate quickly, a diet of bread and salt meat led to a voracious appetite for fresh food apparently, and she only disturbed by someone clearing their throat behind her. She turned, and looked calmly into the face of her mystery.

"Um, hello." He said softly. HIs voice was rough, but gentle at the same time, and was laced with a kindness. His face was sensitive, but he did not seem vulnerable.

"Hello," she replied.

"You're staying at the Jasmine Dragon?" He said, trying hard to sound casual.

"Where else would I be staying?" She retorted, arching an eyebrow. "So yes. It has been good."

"Good." He said, yet not even a little bit of satisfaction crossed his face.

"I suppose I should introduce myself." Katara said, pouncing on the silence as an opportunity to solve her mystery. "I am Kanna."

The man looked at her strangely, as if he felt something was off, which unnerved her, since Kanna was not her real name. But regardless, he stuck out his hand, and she accepted it, shaking it firmly.

"Nice to meet you, Kanna." He said politely, withdrawing his hand, which was unnaturally warm. "I am Zuko."

—

As Katara paced her room, she remembered what had been just said to her. The minute she had found out his name, the dark rain cloud had burst into a thunderous downpour. He was Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and she recognised him because of their previous spar on Kyoshi Island. She wrenched her sleeve up, and looked at the scar that he had given her. It was nowhere near what marked his face, but it had the similar texture and roughness. She had a strange feeling that he had been burnt as well.

 _Never mind that, what do I do? Living in the teahouse with the Avatar's friend?_ Katara felt not desire to leave - she liked it very much here, but at the same time no desire to interrogate. Perhaps…a friendship? Katara wondered if she was even capable of doing that, with her scheming and plans and missions. She had never had a friend, and the closest person to her was Sokka, and that was only because he was her brother, not because she actually was close to him.

A wave of questions overcame Katara. What was Zuko doing here, away from his Avatar team, with a painful looking scar on his face and serving tea and tidbits to Earth Kingdom commoners? Where was Team Avatar? And did Zuko recognise her?

She sat herself down on her bed, clutching her temples and screwing her eyes shut in thought. _Yes…yes…perhaps a friendship is in order._ She thought, almost pleased. _That is the best way to find out about the Avatar without arousing suspicion._ After much deliberation, in the end, she determined that her plan was the best possible one at that time, and vehemently denied that it also helped that she would finally, possibly, have a friend.

So the next day, she went downstairs, and greeted Zuko at the cashier with an easy smile, and stood amiably by him, making friendly conversation, something that surprised Zuko, but he responded to nonetheless. That was the first tiny victory of many that she would accumulate throughout her stay at Ba Sing Se. The rest tasted just as wonderful as the first of them did.

Katara and Zuko soon began to run errands together. Zuko often had to pick up his Uncle's tea supply, and Katara liked to look around and check out the local market places. So she started to tag along whenever Zuko left with a cart to collect the tea crates. They didn't talk too much, mostly made observations to one another, and enjoyed the peace between them. Katara could tell that the relationship brought a sort of peace to Zuko, as he seemed relaxed and there was always a thankful look in his eye whenever she said hello. She never would admit, however, that it brought the same sort of peace to her as well, as time with Zuko meant time with someone who didn't want to talk about the next move all the time, and also meant that she wouldn't be puzzling and brooding over the next move as well.

Back in the Water Tribe, she never thought that any other life other than the one that she had, plotting and scheming, and devising plans and plans and more plans, as well as balancing politics on top of all that, would be satisfactory. Now, away from everything that related to the Water Tribe, and with the calm and quiet presence of the Fire Prince, it felt weirdly serene. Time drew out so a fifteen minute walk felt like an hour long one, and Katara started to love the little things around her. She started to love shadows on pavements, white clouds against a blue sky, eating cold cream on a hot day, and listening to the street performer next to the tea house. Katara suddenly felt a little sad that she had never noticed these things when she was at home. After a little more thought, she realised that that was probably because she was always focused on something else.

After more thought, she realised that this was what it felt like to be a young girl of sixteen, and what she lived before, was a life of a warrior.

After that realisation, she started to treasure these moments even more, knowing that soon it would be back to the fighting, to bending, to the war. _Something like this would be worth fighting for, so should could get back as soon as possible,_ she thought. She glanced at Zuko, who was concentrating on hauling back the tea crates, then turned to the rest of Ba Sing Se. Tall, beige buildings, peoples laundry hanging on them like the tapestries, and stalls with their plain awning, filled with the most delicious snacks and lavish fabrics. She looked at the people, the children playing ball, the teenagers with their friends, the couples clinging to each others arms. Then she looked back at Zuko. He noticed her looking round, and smiled at her, saying, "Ba Sing Se is great, isn't it?"

Katara felt obliged to disagree, but her heart seemed to take control. "Absolutely wonderful." She beamed. She then walked casually over, and helped Zuko lift up the cart, and pushed it in tandem with him. As they pushed it over to the Jasmine Dragon, she was once again struck with a realisation - how easy it was to do things with a partner to help. The crate felt half its weight with Zuko taking some of it, and she felt bittersweet, wondering that if she had let Sokka in and let him help her a little more, he might have stayed. Or had she been too cold, too stand-offish towards a brother who's only crime was nothing at all?

Guilt overwhelmed her, which she quickly put away. She knew, that life in. Ba Sing Se would be a whole lot better if she didn't think too much about her brother and what could have been done. As many people said to her already - what was done was done. Now she was just going to have to live with it. Loathing towards life started to emerge again, but all it took was one more look around the market, to once again, put it to straight to rest. Katara recalled Bato telling her something - where peace will always be the best medicine. How true it felt now, where her typical loathing of the world was completely silenced by the lack of things to loathe in this new world.


	17. Chapter 16

**I return! (After way too long) Enjoy this chapter. I am really trying to write as much as possible, I was feeling particularly inspired today so managed to finish the next chapter!**

Chapter 16

101AG

1st Day of the 1st Month

Aang woke up for the umpteenth time, to still no sign of Zuko. Sokka snored loudly in the corner, joined by Toph, so they joined in some sort of gross harmony. Aang had aways felt a little sad ever since the Fire Prince had left, and missed him even more when he practiced his firebending, wishing that he was back so he could feel the comfort of a good verbal hiding. Regardless, their search for a waterbending master had continued, and had come up short of anything. Sokka was always contemplating who to find next, and Aang had tried to meditate to find Roku so he could offer advice. Toph seemed quite indifferent towards the thought of a waterbending master, but knew to satisfy her need to help out and put in her opinions now and then.

So day in day out, Sokka rattled off a short list of names that he had managed to remember, and Aang kept saying, "No, no…no."

Toph was starting to get bored with hearing all this, and was waiting desperately for the end of things. In fact, she was especially determined to get the two boys to go and have a little fun later, especially since it was the new year, and she was dying to get out as soon as possible. So as the morning broke, and Sokka started rattling off his list of names, she wished that Aang could just say no a little faster so she could force them to listen to her suggestion, and then force them to say yes. Sokka finished his list quite quickly this morning, but the final name struck her.

"Pakku." He said, finally.

Aang looked up at this, feeling his heart leap at this name. She wondered if Aang's ghost Avatar sense was tingling.

Sokka grinned boyishly at this. "D'ya like that one?" He said, puffing out his chest.

"Pakku sounds interesting. Tell me about him." Aang replied, shifting forward to listen.

"Er, well he is a Master, so that ticks one of our boxes. I'm not very sure of what his allegiance is, but he left the Tribes a year into the war, so I don't think he liked it there very much. I don't really know anything else about him."

"He sounds good to me," Toph said. "Lets find him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Sokka said loudly. "We should start now. We can't waste time."

Toph rolled her eyes. "Look, its the first day of the new year, if you haven't noticed. Shouldn't we have a little bit of fun? Eat some good food, dance and terrorise everyone?"

Aang nodded eagerly at this. "That's a good idea! There's a town nearby, and they're going to have fireworks!"

Sokka sniffed, believing himself to have taken up the role of Zuko, to keep everyone on track. So he opened his mouth wide, and started to speak in a deep voice, trying his best to sound mature "We cannot afford a day away from the mission. We must find Pakku as soon as possible.A day lost is…is…"

"No big deal!" Toph said triumphantly.

"… A chance for him to slip through our grasp." Sokka finished, glaring at Toph.

"Please Sokka?" Aang begged, looking at the older boy with wide and hopeful eyes.

Sokka looked at the town. "What is there to eat?"

Toph and Aang shared a knowing look. "Oh, _everything_ you'd want to eat." Toph drawled. "Sausage, buns, cakes, _eeeevvvveeeryyyything._ " Sokka looked more than tempted now.

"I suppose that we could spare a couple hours. It could possible fit into our schedule, if we cut out a couple water breaks."

"I don't mind sacrificing all of my water breaks if we could have a party." Toph said.

"Don't complain, I won't give in again."

Aang nudged Sokka in the ribs. "Stop lying. I know you want to go as much as we both do."

Sokka bit his lip, looking at both of them sheepishly. "Now, you two don't have to go round telling anyone, do you?"

So later that night, the three of them headed down to town, loaded with a carefully counted bag of coins, courtesy of Sokka and his tight budget, and a voracious appetite for some fun. When they entered the town square, they were smacked hard in the face by the sight that they beheld. The square was lit with red and yellow lights, and filled with dancing people, food and games stalls, and tables and chairs. Toph immediately plunged into the dancing, dragging Sokka with her, who then dragged Aang. In no time, all three of them were prancing around the fountain areas, shouting and clapping, chanting more than singing. At one point, they formed a little circle, and spun round and round, amid gut-wrenching laughter.

They danced and danced until Sokka's hunger got the better of him, and he forced them to leave the dance floor so they could buy the food his stomach growled for. They were amazed, that even with Sokka's tight budget, they still managed to buy enough food for five, even though they were three. Sokka tucked in quite easily, while Aang sat at the vegetarian side of the table, and Toph tucked in just after the others had. They normally talked during mealtimes, but that was to take their minds off the horrible dry taste of bread in their mouths, but now the food was so delectable that they had no time to speak, and saved their mouths for the eating. It was only after a good half and hour when all of them looked up from their feast and said something to one another.

"Wow." Sokka said, patting his stomach affectionately.

Aang had had a good choice of vegetarian options, and had eaten a nice hearty meal. He grinned happily - he was tired of the dry bread, and the sour berries their picked. Toph burped loudly - she ate the fastest, and she and Sokka always seemed to be in constant battle as to who could eat fastest, the most, and the loudest. No one had bothered to watch and see this time, so no one could care less.

"Should we return to the grooves?" Sokka said.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Return to the grooves? Seriously Sokka?"

"Sorry, I didn't realise that that would make you so upset." Sokka stuck out his tongue.

"Your horrible command of our language disgusts me." Toph sniffed.

Sokka just laughed, and got up, stretching, since he knew very well he'd eaten more than way too much. Toph got up as well. "We should have some more fun." Aang groaned under the weight of the food in his stomach, but willingly obliged.

They played for an hour, not winning very many things, and crowing a champion gamer between the three of them - Aang. Sokka was adamant that Aang had bended most things in his favour, but had no proof since Aang had showed no signs of doing that, and air was transparent. Toph was absolutely horrible at games, and missed almost everything she had to shoot, throw or hook. Sokka was not as good as he projected himself to be, and was quite useless at some games, nevertheless, being elite at others. He had been particularly accurate when it came to the boomerang game, where you had to throw a boomerang at a series of targets, and hope you hit as many as possible as it left you and returned.

The champion, however, beat him in almost all the other games, and was easily crowned the winner, and wore a pink paper crown the rest of the night. They danced, drank a little more, ate a little more then regretted it, and sat round in a little circle, as the night went by. As the crowd started to thin out a little, they wondered if they should lower their volume if they decided to speak of an Avatar business. Toph, however, had not gotten the memo, and seemed a little tipsy from the ale she had snuck from someones cup, so she spoke louder than usual. Sokka contemplated feeding her more ale to knock her out, but decided against it, thinking, "What would Zuko do?" And Zuko would just stand there, awkwardly looking at Toph, then everyone else, confused as to what to do and nervous that he was doing something wrong by not doing anything at all.

Aang stretched and yawned. "Sacrificing Pakku time was worth it. Thanks Sokka."

Sokka couldn't help but agree. "But we're going first thing tomorrow to find this guy."

Toph burped loudly, and Sokka's nose wrinkled up in disgust. "Lets find Pakku!" She shouted, as if trying to get her crowd of two to stand up and chant that with her.

Sokka shushed her immediately, and Toph fell back into her chair, a dreamy look on her face. Aang looked towards Sokka again. "Any idea where you can find him?"

Sokka thought about this for a while. "I am not sure." Sokka said frankly. "I only know his name, and what a good waterbender he is."

Toph had started to repeat Pakku's name again, and sometimes said it loudly, then softly, then loudly again, annoying Sokka greatly. He did not like drunk Toph. She was annoying sober, but this one was the Jester cum Devil reincarnate.

Before he could say something, he realised that a group of old men nearby had taken notice of their conversation, and seemed quite interested in the three young people sitting next to them. Sokka peered at them suspiciously, hoping they weren't a bunch of old spies that would rat them out to the Tribes. They ignored his suspicious glares, and instead started nudging each other and motioning towards them. Sokka turned back, and grasped Toph firmly by the arm, and Aang by the other.

"C'mon guys, we should go get some rest."

"We need to Pakku our things-wu." Toph said dreamily, fantasising about packing to leave. Sokka groaned.

He was about to haul them away, when a firm, warm hand grasped his shoulder. He knew it was one of the old men before turning to see. It was, and the man have long white hair, a thin, long face, and deep-set eyes.

"I just heard a name I have never heard in a long time."

"Pakku?" Sokka said cheerfully. "Y'know, just talking about the legends. Haha!" He tried to edge away.

"Young man, sit down! We mean to be helpful!" A silver-haired old man piped up from behind the one in front of him.

Sokka sat down warily. The thin man sat down as well. "We heard the name of a good friend, Pakku. You can find him in the next village, Qing Lao. He is there."

Sokka felt a smile flit across his face. "Really?"

"Take our words for it. He is there." The old man winked, then after looking around for a second, plucked a a couple stalks of white flowers from a nearby vase and thrust it into his hands. "And give him these." Sokka, shaken by the sudden passing of flowers, took them, a little amazed that an old man gift flowers like these, but nodded and thanking them, walked quickly away. '

The following day, Sokka dragged a hung-over and horribly grumpy Toph, and a bloated Aang back onto Appa, and they all flew to Qing Lao. It was not far away, but it was small and hard to spot; brown thatch roofs camouflaged very well amongst the brown-green trees. When they landed, the town was busy enough, with people doing their thing, but Sokka was more focused on finding Pakku. Still holding the bouquet, he left Aang to hand out with Toph, who was groaning and cursing in the corner, and started to walk around, trying to find a face he recognised. He had seen Pakku years ago, and now, his face seemed to gleam in mind, but only in an outline. He reckoned that he would be able to recognise the eyes of Pakku - startling sapphire blue, like Katara's, and if you looked closely enough, you could see waves crashing in them. Hakoda often spoke of how Pakku had always been connected to the sea, and connected to its power, and that was how he drew _his_ awesome power. Not from rage like Fire Benders, or peace like Air Benders, or their stubbornness like Earthbenders - but from his weapon itself.

But after a while, he was sure he had circled the tiny town two or three times, with no sign of the waterbender. He noticed people starting to notice him and how lost he was, until finally someone actually asked him what he was doing and what he wanted.

"Pakku?" He said quickly, wanting to get to the Waterbender as quick as he could.

The person looked at him, then at the flowers, then a look of understanding crossed his face. He pointed down the road, then told him to turn left at the end of the road, so Sokka did. But when he reached the end, then turned right, he was confused. He walked amongst the trees, looking amongst the tombstones for a sign of the old man. The cemetery was tiny, and deserted. Why would Pakku be here unless he was-?

Sokka stopped, then looked to his left. On the tombstone, engraved there were the words "Pakku, Waterbender and our Hero". Sokka felt a grimace come to his face. Those old men thought they were looking to visit the dead waterbender, and pay their respects, when in fact they had very much hoped he would be alive. And to his further dismay, he realised that Pakku had died just a few weeks before they arrived. To think that if they had come here a little earlier, they could have possibly met him!

Sokka gently placed the flowers on the grave, and arranged them so they faced the tombstone. There was an old Waterbender legend that when you died, and when someone visited your gravestone, you would be able to sit there with them and watch from inside the tombstone. That was why all the tombstones were upright and stuck out of the ground - so the person inside could have a nice view of where they used to be and the people they loved and missed that had come to visit. Sokka thanked Pakku for giving his services to the Water Tribe, and expressed his regret at not meeting him sooner. Then after a moment thought, he said, that the Avatar had returned and he wished that Pakku had been there to see the Water Tribe suffer justice. He was sitting quite comfortably in front of Pakku's grave now, and suddenly felt as if he was actually listening.

So he continued to talk, hoping that he gave the old man listening a little bit of joy to hear of his homeland, and to hear of a little bit of hope. Sokka became to think that hope seemed to be the best food for the soul. He had felt it - that a little morsel was enough to satisfy a grumbling heart. He had felt the little bit of hope he had when he first left his family to find the Avatar, and it had driven him forward. He had felt a little hope when he was accepted into the team, and as he shared with the Avatar, he hoped to feel a little hope that his sister would soon join him.

The thought of Katara struck a sad chord of him. They had never been close, but she had been the closest person to him, simply because she was his sister. He was supposed to protect her, yet he had left, leaving her behind for them to fill her mind with hate and battle plans and missions that would never bring her true happiness. Yet, he still felt as if she had found a secret happiness, and that somewhere out there she had felt a little bit of the peace they had hardly been dealt. He remained silent whilst thinking about Katara, and after a few moments of silent thought, he decided that the best he could do was send his love from far away to wherever she was. So he sent a little prayer her way, hoping that maybe the wind would whisper it in her ear as she walked on.

Then he sat for a little while more at Pakku's grave, after which he readjusted the flowers, got up, then left, saying a soft goodbye to the old man in the tombstone, the back of his mind swamped with thoughts of his sister's sapphire blue eyes. He mused: Perhaps one day he would see the waves crashing down in her eyes like everyone said they saw in Pakku's.


	18. Chapter 17

**Hello again. New chapter, hope you like it. Warning: It's going to be A LOT of musing and poking into thoughts and such. Hope it's entertaining anyway. I've been trying to explore the characters personalities and conflicts, and honestly, it's hard to do it without writing too much or sounding too dramatic. Fleshing out characters sure is tough! I hope I do them justice - Zuko is a particularly hard character to figure out. More on Zuko after you read this chapter.**

Chapter 17

101AG

10th Day of the 1st Month

Lift. Pour. Next table. Lift. Pour. Next table. Lift. Pour. Next table.

That was the life of Zuko. It had only been until Kanna's arrival that it had become - Lift. Pour. Next table. When you're done: talk to Kanna. Now that was his new life. But while it did lend him that blessed relief, he still did notice that behind her blissful expression throughout their conversation, there was an unsettling questioning undertone. He knew hat the question would be - his scar.

While he had been reproachful that his new friend was, like everyone, curious and horrified by his disfigurement, but he had not blamed her. He sometimes wished to tell her - the agony, his constant pain, but he always (in the end) decided that it would be cruel to burden her with his problems.

Truth is, while he smiled and acted normal, like the scar had been a bad birthmark that had always been there, there was a deep, festering pain. Only Uncle knew of this - he brewed a warm pot of tea specially for Zuko every night to calm him down and help him feel better - and so Zuko was often left to dwell on it by himself. At night, he dreamt of his father's curses and the excruciating, blinding pain. In the morning, he awake sweating and mad.

He knew deep down, he was still hurt. Wait, scratch that. More than hurt. _Crippled._ Azula's betrayal, his punishment. Everything just added up to his heart being wrenched into pieces, and only now was he staring to put it back together, scrap by scrap. He was also in a state of disbelief - had his father really done that? His dreams confirmed it. Through the fire, as he fought to crack open his melting eyelids, he could see his father through the licks of flame.

Zuko hadn't known what a broken heart felt like. But now he did. Now he knew, very, very well.

He contemplated daily if he should return to the gang. He wondered if they missed him (they did) and if he should write a letter to them soon (he should). He wondered if they were better off without them (absolutely not). While those answers were confusing and open-ended, there were a couple questions he knew the answer to. Was his father feeling remorse? (No) Was Azura regretful? (No) Are they thinking about him? (No, and if they did, only with contempt)

He had cut his hair, and despite the twisted pride he had managed to feel from showing his scar, it never truly liberated him from the deep-rooted depression that had sprouted. He still saw children squirm under his gaze, and old women gasp into their tea when they entered the Dragon. That was why he was always so glad to see Kanna - she looked deeper than what she saw.

Zuko walked out into the store, and started his morning task of pouring the jasmine morning brew. Only when Kanna walked in to signal to him that it was time to go did he remove his apron and quickly exit to join her at her side.

"What today?" He said, a smile coming naturally to his face.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" Kanna replied, flashing a smile as 'Hello'.

"Let's just walk." Zuko decided, after thinking for a moment. "We haven't just walked for a while."

Kanna and Zuko walked for a little while in silence, enjoying the general morning hubbub, until Kanna suddenly said,

"What were you doing before you came here?"

Zuko was taken aback by this question. Kanna had a look of innocent curiosity, and Zuko realised that her question was completely justified. She knew as well as he that they were both outsiders, and it would be natural for her to ask such a simple question. Yet, this question could not be answered truthfully. A sting of guilt pierced his chest at the thought of hiding something from his friend, but nevertheless, Aang could not be found out - he knew that much.

"I was traveling." Zuko replied, answering as earnestly as he could, but not too much to sound too suspicious. "Around the Earth Kingdom, and other places."

Kanna looked interested. She did not ask anything else, but he knew she wanted to know more since she continued to look at him expectantly.

"With friends." Zuko added.

"I thought I was your friend!" Kanna joked, a light-hearted laugh escaping her lips.

"I have more than just one," Zuko said happily, though as he said the words, he was reminded of when he had none, not too long ago.

"How were they?" Kanna asked.

"They were the best. They were strong, they were loyal, funny. Friends." Zuko smiled as he said this. He even had fond memories of Sokka, though he was the most annoying.

"Were they benders?"

Zuko wondered if the truth would be necessary here. "Yes." He said, but he said nothing more.

Kanna sensed this, and Zuko knew she wanted to know more, but she remained silent. Zuko wondered if she felt a little pick peeved that he denied her the gristly details. Nevertheless, she turned back to him, grasping his hand. His muscles tensed at this. She let go, but asked anyways.

"What did you guys do?"

"A lot." Zuko replied. "We trekked, we ate. We told jokes and we danced. We did what friends did." Zuko said easily. This was the truth. The nitty-gritty mission-related stuff they did was the work of allies, not friends.

Kanna smiled at this, though he could sense a slight annoyance. He found this strange. Why wasn't she happy with this? He quickly changed the subject, not wanting to partake in this awkward conversation topic. Instead, he suggested they buy a couple of smoking cheese drizzled komodo sausage grilling nearby. Kanna agreed heartily, thinking that the sausage would be very nice indeed.

—

It had been a while since the gang had last moved. Aang, Sokka and Toph seemed a little lost without the controlling presence of Zuko, and that was something they sometimes wished was gone. His planning, his dominance and his attention to detail meant that the rest of them were spared the chore and the practice. So now, Sokka had taken up the mantle, albeit nervous to fill in Zuko's sizeable shoes. Sokka himself had never been the powerful one - that often fell to Katara, the stronger one, and so he also felt uncomfortable being the man of the situation.

In the rare instances of him actually doing things in the Tribe, more often than not his ideas were cut down and Katara took over, to rapturous applause.

But surrounded only by two equally clueless friends, Sokka suddenly felt much more at ease. Aang and Toph were willing to help, Aang more than Toph, but they had yet to gain traction.

Sokka didn't like to admit it, but he felt a little sad that Zuko hadn't returned. The Fire Bender had been a good friend, and he had been the other older boy. Sokka admitted sometimes that hanging out with two kids (don't tell Toph) was a lot more tiring than he thought.

Aang had gotten more broody, and Sokka feared what that would lead to. Everyone knew that the Airbenders were all dead, and Aang was still in the dark.

So naturally, when Aang had announced his determination to go back to the Air Temples, Sokka and Toph had screamed their disapproval. It did not work, however.

"It's my home." Aang said firmly, almost angrily. "Why won't you let me go?"

"You know how to airbend, Aang," Sokka insisted. "You don't need to go there."

Toph nodded. "We need to find a waterbending master."

Aang suddenly looked annoyed. "Well, that isn't working out, is it?" He said. "It's my home, and you don't tell me not to go home!"

Sokka and Toph continued to insist against it, but were met with stubborn defiance. Sokka was bordering on mad but by the time Toph, even with her milky green irises, looked hopeless, did he finally cave in.

He did not want to think about what would face them when they arrived. And most of all: He definitely did not want to think about Aang's reaction. He and Toph shared a great despair as Aang sat triumphantly at the front, as Appa glided through the air, following the wind back to his old home.

—

Azula pranced into the Throne Room to meet her father. The Fire Lord sat tall on his throne, reading a report from the chief engineer. "Did you hear Father?" Azura said in a sing-song voice. "It's done."

"Of course I have." The Fire Lord replied. "What do you think this is?" He waved the report lazily, before returning to it.

"What shall we do now?" Azula said, unfazed by her father's jarring sarcasm.

"Well, what's a war machine for if you can't use it for something?" The Fire Lord replied. "Now, that is just not practical, wouldn't you agree?"

Azul knew very well he didn't need her approval to do what was next. Regardless, she said "Yes. Very, very much."

Fire Prince Ozai placed the report in a simple red folder next to his throne, and a servant scrambled from the shadows to take it away.

"I am so glad you are not your mother." Ozai said proudly.

There was a flash of pride reflected in Azula's (identical to Ozai's). Azura took a deep breath, handling the comment with reverance.

"Neither do I want to be, Father. I want to be like you." She took a deep bow, but met her father's smouldering eyes without the fear that many held when in her position.

"That is why I need you by my side," Ozai said seriously, every word stressed and articulated. "We can only trust family."

A dark look crossed Azula's face. She fantasised…oh, how she fantasised! The throne, her hands on each arm rest, her father by her side. She nodded, a wicked grin on her face. But her gaze focused on something above her father's shoulder, instead of his face. She was reminded of something ominous.

"Father," she said, "But we could not trust him." She looked straight into the golden embossed eyes of Fire Lord Sozin, positioned alongside the other line of Fire Lord faces stretching across the golden back of the throne.

Ozai turned slightly, to look at his ancestor, then back at his daughter. Azura continued, "Surely, it isn't-"

"Of course not. Sozin was a great Fire Lord." Ozai said sharply. Azura looked her father, carefully examining his expression, and finding nothing the but truth, back at the gleaming face of Sozin.

"But that Uncle of mine told such stories." Azura edged further, only silenced by a look of extreme annoyance from Ozai. "But surely, they couldn't be true." She finished quickly, not losing her snarky glare.

Ozai stood up slowly and started to leave. "Fire Lord Sozin chose to do the right thing." Ozai said. "He decided to defy Avatar Roku and put the Fire Nation first. Like I have, and you will." And with that, Ozai walked straight out of the room.

 **As I was saying, Zuko is particularly hard. I was contemplating where to take him -** **the TV show way or a new way. TV Show being, a delusional quest for honor, et cetera. But I don't think so. The situations are completely different. Zuko is older, more mature and is in a different position than he was in the TV show. He, unlike Katara, is not the 'enemy' here, so I think that comes with a different mentality all together. So I reckon that I will take him in the conflicted direction - was this scar justified? Was his father right in doing so? Should he return to his friends (the Gaang) in disgrace, or should he stay at the Dragon, living a simple existence? So please excuse his brooding - I want to illustrate his conflict, and his emotions and thoughts right now. I hope you liked this chapter and all the future chapters.**


	19. Chapter 18

**Hope everyone likes this chapter! Sorry it is a bit short.**

 **Ominous07 - Thank you so much! I am so glad you like it! I am happy that the twist caught you off guard - that was the plan. And to answer your questions, to which I cannot give straight answers, Zuko may join in the near future, or maybe not. But be sure that he is definitely considering it. He also does not recognize Katara. If I am not wrong, he never had a good look at Katara's face before they met, so he does not manage to recognize her, and I think he is going through too much emotional turmoil to even consider "Kanna" to be a Water Tribe princess!**

 **Anonymous, MISTER Anonymous - Thank you! Also, I did not mean to have any sexual tension between Zuko and Katara. I was going for a more friendly feel. Zuko feels happy and comforted by his friendship after going through such hard times, hence his happiness at seeing Katara. As for shipping, my lips are sealed! I shall reveal nothing, it's all a big, big secret.**

Chapter 18

101AG

11th Day of the 1st Month

The moment Sokka heard Aang's triumphant cry of, "There it is!", a wave of dread crashed through him. He could see the fabled air temples, but could not see any air benders, as expected. That did not dampen Aang's revitalised spirit, as well as Appa's, as the bison suddenly lurched forward with a massive heave that took the air out of Sokka's landed, and Aang sprang from Appa's back with a huge whoop, Toph and Sokka much less energised and lot more scared.

Sokka did not want Aang to know what had happened. It was general knowledge back at home, and anywhere really - the Water Tribe had killed all the Airbenders. And Sokka himself was a Water Tribesman. He did not know what to think of that. And he especially did not want to see Aang's face when he finally found out. Perhaps the Avatar would wreck revenge, on the only Water Tribesman here…Sokka shuddered to think.

Aang immediately sprang down the entrance platform, with Appa close behind, and Toph and Sokka last. There was no sign of emotion on Toph's face, but Sokka knew that beneath the stony exterior, she was feeling just as scared as he was.

Aang reached a huge metal door, with swirling pipes that all joined in a Airbender symbol in the middle. Two huge horns extended towards the trio and Appa. Aang seemed to know exactly what to do, bending a blast of wind into each horn, and the door quickly swung open. Behind the door, was a immense darkness. Aang quickly walked in, and as the sunlight streamed in behind them, it was revealed that the room was humungous.

It had a high ceiling, and the walls were filled with spiralling indentations, each carrying many statues. In the middle, there was an old man, eyes blank, made of grey stone. He had long hair, half tied in a bun. Aang seemed to recognise him immediately.

"That's Roku, the Avatar before me." Aang said. He stepped forwards. "This is the…sanctuary." He seemed to question whether it was the sanctuary - such was the state of his memory.

"Looks like there is nobody here." Sokka said. "Maybe we should leave."

Aang shook him head. "Nope. They are around here somewhere. I can feel it."

Toph remained silent, but seemed thoughtful. Sokka's shoulders sunk, with Aang leading them out and down a path around the building that was the sanctuary to a lower level. They continued this search for a while, finding nothing. This surprised Sokka - he would have thought that there would at least be…well, _skeletons_ or some sort of remains. Secretly, he was glad.

But finally, they reached a large courtyard. As they rounded the corner to the entrance, Aang charged forwards, rounding the bend first. Sokka knew that something was there the minute a look of utter horror crossed Aang's features. Sokka quickly rushed over, and a hand slapped over his mouth.

In front of them, in the huge courtyard, lay bones upon bones. The robes had long disintegrated, leaving behind the fragile remains. Sokka imagined the peaceful nomads being slaughtered where they stood by Water Tribe blades…He turned to Aang, and immediately started to feel icy dread creep in.

The Avatar was trembling, anger or fear he could not say, but his hands and legs were shaking, and his eyebrows had furrowed and his teeth clenched. The kid was fuming. He did not look at Sokka, but Sokka looked at Toph, desperately, but she had not said a word.

Sokka reached for Aang, but grew scared and tucked his hand into his pocket. Slowly, Aang's head turned in Sokka's direction. Sokka could see the Avatar was starting to tear.

"What. Happened?" Aang's voice trembled.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier." Sokka said quickly. "I swear - we would have told you."

"What. Happened?" Aang said again, his expression hardening.

Sokka glanced helplessly at the courtyard, then back at Aang, anguish distorting his face. "The-they wanted to find you!" He said desperately.

Sokka knew Aang knew exactly what happened the minute the Airbenders tears started to slither down his cheeks. A deep rumble issued from deep in the earth below them. Sokka lost his balance, but Toph's hand immediately flew to his back, stabilising him. He looked back at her again; she seemed like she was concentrating on something. But as soon as he had looked back at Aang, a huge wind had blown in, which almost toppled him over yet again. This time, Toph didn't help him again, and he fell to his feet with an "OOF".

He did not get up, and that was because Aang was rising, up from the ground, wind swirling around him, carrying twigs, leaves even the skeletons, and his eyes were illuminated - a stinging, cold blue. His tattoos were also illuminated. Sokka's heart stopped - not because of that, but because of the twisted expression on Aang's young face. He had no idea such a look of fury could be possibly displayed on the young boys face.

Toph held him down, "Don't move. Where's Aang? I can't see him."

"You can't se- Oh." Toph had explained how she saw on one of their trips. He quickly grabbed his club, and tossed it as close to below Aang as he could.

Almost immediately, two huge pillars of earth sprang from the ground, his club hurtling back towards Sokka, skimming his ear, and hooked around Aang's rising figure. Sokka had thought it was all under control when shards of rock peppered his face - the pillars had been cracked and exploded back at them. Toph let out a loud curse.

Sokka wrenched his hand free of Toph's grip, shouting, "AANG! COME BACK! WE CAN TALK, JUST COME DOWN!" He kept shouting and shouting, until his throat went raw, the wind and twigs and bones whacking and scraping him in everywhere possible as he stood right underneath the Avatar's tornado, and his eyes stinging from the dust and the wind.

Sokka could hear nothing but the scream of wind but suddenly, he could hear Toph, shouting as loud as he was, desperately, screaming at him to _get out_.

He ignored her, but out of nowhere, he was thrust out of the way by Toph, and they both rolled to the edge of the courtyard, almost plummeting to their deaths below them. Sokka dragged Toph to the ground, the girl obviously terrified due to her feet being dangled near the edge, and he looked back towards the Avatar. Due to the dust and the dirt being thrown up around the temple, it was almost impossible to see anything, but he reached forwards, palming his way forwards, ignoring Toph's screams to stay back. She seemed to be warning him, but he could not hear her over the howls of the wind.

Slowly, a hand reached up towards Aang, grasping his ankle, a soft, cold touch that made the Avatar's head turn to see what had reached him. The blue eyes flickered. "Avatar!" A voice echoed out in the wind.


	20. Chapter 19

**Hello! I return. Please excuse this emo/angsty Zuko chapter. Frankly, I didn't want to reveal the cliffhanger just yet...so enter Zuko and Katara. By the way, this IS Puotters. I got tired of my old user and changed it, as well as the chapter system and the cover image, because well...didn't like what I was doing before.**

 **Anonymous. MISTER Anonymous - I hope everything will be okay soon too. Also, I get what you mean. Suppose we'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Shinobi - Um, hard question. She is sort of in between. Thank you for your review, hope you like this chapter!**

 **Guest - Aw, shucks. Thanks! Hope you like this chapter.**

Chapter 19

101AG

11th Day of the 1st Month

Katara fumed in her room.

Goddammit! The Fire Prince continued to shoo her away from his experience with the Avatar, he continued to defy her advances. She had yet to learn anything important about the Avatar - where they were, what they were doing, and what plans they had! She had received a letter from her father, which further established what her mission was.

 _In case you need a little reminding: FIND OUT WHAT THE AVATAR IS UP TO! Pursue once found, but inform us immediately._

Short and sweet, but it did do its trick. The sliver from home had reinvigorated her old Water Tribe spirit, and suddenly the nice fun stuff was over. The friendship was nothing but a tool. Soon the time would come when she would have to betray Zuko and leave this life. It had been nice, but all nice things always came to and end. _Like your brother_ , Katara thought bitterly.

She knew very well that this was quite confusing. Not for her, but for anyone that would possible be able to examine her thoughts, should she open it to anyone. A friendship: so wonderful and so pure, a life: peaceful and worry-free. Why would she give that up for a life of a warrior? Answer: Loyalty. She knew very well that she would give anything for her Tribe, even if it meant relinquishing, sadly, the one thing that had actually given her a taste of life for the first time.

Katara knew very well the price of sacrifices. The Airbenders had been sacrificed to keep the Water Tribe safe, and similarly, her little Ba Sing Se fling would also be sacrificed to keep the Water Tribe safe. Quite frankly, that sacrifice seemed ant-like while the former seemed elephantine.

So now, she plotted her next move. She sensed a deep hurt in Zuko, one that she did not want to exploit. She noted grimly: For all her cold-hearted actions, she still did have a little bit of humanity left in her to spare him that. But perhaps, a relationship would still have to be wasn't their friendship deep enough? Wasn't their friendly, but careful banter a good enough friendship? Wasn't toleration the equal of a friendship? Surely, there wasn't any more need for any further bonds to be forged to force the necessary information out of the stubborn Fire Prince.

Katara longed for the counsel of her father. He had been her source of advice, but she would not, and could not write a letter to him asking that. Now, that would just be silly. She would have liked to sit and think for a while more, but it was time to go down and meet Zuko again. She made her way down, anticipating but also dreading, hopeful for a little more progress today.

Zuko greeted her with a little smile, which she returned, as per normal. Soon, they were walking down the street, just enjoying the day like they did yesterday, but ideas and thoughts and plans were racing through Katara's head.

Ideas, thoughts, plans raced through another princess's head at the same time.

Miles away, Azula sat in her rooms, calculating. She had just left a meeting held by the Fire Lord and his generals, and had been tasked with coming up with the plan. She knew for sure: with the industrialised machines the Fire Nation was pumping out, the wooden ships that the Water Tribe built would be pitifully hopeless - she had long before noted the importance of wood being in the picture.

So the plan was ultimately: Destroy the Water Tribe. Azula was quite convinced that this plan was the right one - after all, that _had_ been the hundred-year-goal. But as any idiot may have figured it out, it would be that the aim was very hard to achieve. It had taken a century to get here, and she hoped that she herself would be alive and well by the time it was done. Azula dreamt of ending the war herself. She dreamt of waving a hand that meant ATTACK and hoisting he Fire Nation emblem high above the Water Tribe states. She dreamt of being Fire Lord…my, the thought made her _salivate_.

She let herself daydream a little longer, then returned to her thinking. She knew the wide arsenal available to her, and she couldn't wait to use the war balloons, personally. Slowly, she pieced together her battle plan. She thought slowly and deliberated carefully. As her plans unfolded in her mind, she carefully pieced together everything, making sure that each piece fit snugly in the one before. It took her a good part of the afternoon to figure out what was going to happen, but once that was done, she stood up, and marched briskly to the Fire Lord's rooms to share her wisdom.

The Fire Lord was impressed, needless to say. The plan seemed simple but boasted an invisible complexity. It incorporated their best and most powerful of the arsenal, and was the perfect combination of manipulation and sheer force. As Fire Lord Ozai liked to say: 'Preying on the mind's of the weak is easy, fooling the minds of the strong is for the truly powerful.' Azula fancied herself one of the latter, as did her father, and as did basically everyone else (though there really was no choice _but_ to agree).

The Fire Lord had always seen the way Azula twisted people around her little finger. He had always seen the way that the Fire Princess would scheme and speak, and oh, was it exhilarating! How wonderful it was to have such wonderful offspring!

Azula quickly and easily had her plan approved. She was riding a wave of exhilaration, the days of the Avatar and Zuko's Agni Kai gone.

 _Ah,_ she thought. _I wonder what it would feel like to be a hero._

 _Hero._ Zuko thought hard about this word. Would he be called a hero? He glanced in a tub of water as he passed, staring hard at his reflection as it passed. The ugly red against his pale skin. He combed a little bit of his growing fringe back over that side of his face.

What kind of hero would he be? Scarred, disowned, stripped of _any_ honour. How could he return to his friends? He knew he had been the oldest, the strongest. If he went back, he would be in shame. He was stripped of anything. He had been viciously defeated, stripped of his title, and reduced to the tea refill-er at his Uncle's shop. Spirits, what honour was there in that?

Kanna walked in amicable silence next to him. She seemed deep in thought, and he took no notice, since he was equally deep in thought as well. But wait, why would he need to return? His life here was perfectly fine - apart from the gasps and judgements he received, it was alright. He had Kanna, his Uncle, the Dragon…but then there was also the goddamn Avatar. Zuko knew very well that the group needed him.

But even if that were the case, how would he ever find them? It would take a combination of several miracles for such a chance to pop up. And still, he thought, reminded of the red scream across his face, he would return disgraced. The thought was like a shank to the chest. He knew he wasn't to blame, but he still felt the shame of misbehaviour. Surely his father was justified? Yes, no, yes, no yesnoyesno…NO! YES! Surely he wasn't the horrible child that deserved this? Helping the _Avatar_ was a great reason, he knew that to be true…or was it. _Or was it._

Zuko felt like letting out a loud scream. If his crime had been right, then this scar on his face would have been for nothing. If his father had overreacted…if his pain had been unjustified and avoidable…dear Agni, Zuko did not even want to think of what the would feel. He did not want to look at the scar again; the nauseating scar that didn't really need to be there.

But if it had been justified, that made him feel like dying. Had he been such a horrible, disloyal son? Had he been such a sickening person, that this scar was just the truth, the ugly, ugly truth?

Oh, how these thoughts plagued him. Sometimes he felt he was going to go mad. In his madness, (and this he could not stop himself from saying), he said, quite loudly, to Kanna,

"Am I a bad person?"

Katara was taken off guard by this. She looked at Zuko, his face plagued by such despair that she could not help but feel sorry for him. She suddenly realised she had not spoken to him since they had left, and they had both spent the time trapped in their own thoughts. Katara suddenly realised that Zuko had probably spent the time, reflecting on the very information she wanted to extract from him, so she quickly recovered herself and replied,

"Of course not. What would make you think so?" Quite honestly, she did not like the distress on Zuko's face, and wished it away. She almost immediately regretted it - she was supposed to stay indifferent to make the parting easier!

"Things. This scar." Zuko sounded sadder now.

"Hey." Katara stepped towards Zuko, placing a hand on his shoulder, patting it awkwardly. "It's alright, really." She waved her hand over his scar. "This, doesn't make you a bad person."

"How do you know, I never told you why I got it." Zuko said grumpily.

 _Yes! Yes! So tell me!_ Katara almost screamed that out. "Because we're friends," Katara said simply. "And I know you are not a bad person. Otherwise you would scream and shout at everyone. Otherwise you would have gotten angry when people stared and pointed. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be friends with me in the first place. God, you wouldn't even smile at me every morning if you weren't a good person, Zuko!" Katara removed her hand quickly. "And I know you are good, because you are good to your Uncle."

Zuko shook his head. "You don't know what happened."

"Then what happened?" Katara said, seizing her chance.

"My father. He did this." Zuko said quickly, bitter now, his tone something Katara had never heard before in his voice. Quite honestly, it scared her. "He thought I betrayed him and disobeyed him and he did _this_ to me. It's unbelievable, isn't it?" Zuko looked slightly mad, his eyes bolting amber. "And now I've got to live with it while he eats and dines on roast rabbit and red wine."

Katara realised that Zuko was being open to her for the first time. She didn't know how to respond.

"Your dad is an asshole." Katara said. "And you're here, with me, now."

"Spirits." Zuko said, bitter and broken. "I know he's an asshole. But he's an asshole who's my father."

"That's family for you." Katara said, thinking about Sokka.

"I've lost my honour. As a son. As everything." Zuko groaned. "And my friends."

"You're their friend. If they leave you for any other reason other than a good one, they're assholes too. And honour means nothing in a war."

Zuko cracked a little smile. "God Katara, everyone is an asshole according to you."

"Hey, it takes one to know one." Katara said, a little haunted by the words that had just left her lips. "But seriously, you'll be okay. Everything works out in the end. It always does."

Zuko smiled at her, and squeezed her shoulder in thanks. "Thank you."

They continued walking, and Zuko seemed to feel a little better, though Katara just knew he would be back to brooding that night. When they reached the Jasmine Dragon again, Katara was about to say goodbye, when she realised that Zuko was looking at her strangely.

"Yes?" She said, laughing a little.

"When we first met, I felt as if we had been friends forever." Zuko said quietly. "It's like I knew you from somewhere."

Katara suddenly felt nervous. Could he have any memory of a certain Water Tribe princess-warrior?

"A lot of people look like me!" Katara said with a laugh. "I'm a common face."

Zuko chuckled, but said no more. They said their goodbyes, and Katara went back up the stairs, suddenly self-conscious of her startlingly blue eyes and brown Water Tribe skin, despite the Earth Kingdom robes she wore. The Water Tribe necklace dug deep into her skin, and she almost felt as if her cover was melting away, hot and molten over her skin, leaving sizzling burn tracks behind. A guest walked past her in a hurry, and she instinctively reassembled her cover, gladly feeling snug and secure in the ghost of Kanna's shell.

 **Hope you liked it! See you guys soon.**


	21. Chapter 20

**Hello everybody. I am back! Long story short, for the past couple months I have been studying really hard for my O-Levels, where the score determines the next school I will enrol in. It's a pretty big deal here in sunny Singapore. Anyway, I am really sorry for such slow updates - this story was published in May 2016, and only last updated September 2017. That's a year and four months, and I've only put out twenty chapters. An average of about 1.25 chapters a month...tsk tsk tsk. Anyways, I hope that you will enjoy this chapter. I am once again, really sorry for such slow (nonexistent) updates.**

 _Guest: To me, Katara and Azula are two different personalities and people. BUT in terms of who is the "evil princess" in this fanfic, yes, Katara_ is _Azula. But they both have their own two distinct personalities and storylines. But because of their different personalities, I have planned out Azula's plot in this fanfiction to be different than that of Katara in the canon storyline, and the same for Katara. If you get what I mean._

 _Shinobi: Yes, she does, doesn't she? Hope you like this chapter._

 _Impstar: Thank you for the compliment! Anyways, the title has been changed. Someone else told me about that being an issue, and back then, I reckon I was too stubborn to cave in. But regardless, thanks for telling me, I appreciate it! I'm glad you enjoyed the story. Hope you like this chapter._

Chapter 20

101AG

11th Day of the 1st Month

Sokka looked up. Aang lay in a quiet pile in front of him, asleep. He turned to his right, where Toph lay, and got up with an "oof", and helped Toph up as well. She looked thoroughly confused. "I could have sworn…was that you?" She said, her eyebrows furrowed in thought and confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka said, in a similar state of perplexity. "What just _happened_?" Sokka could have sworn that Aang had just been caught up in his Aang-nado, and the entire temple was shaking to its foundation, and they were going to die.

"As if the blind girl would know," Toph said.

"You never let that stop you!" Sokka huffed.

"Whatever. All I could feel was wind. Tons of wind. And hear your shouting and-" She stopped here, thinking.

"Yeah, I know that," Sokka said. "But I don't remember Aang coming _down_."

Toph stroked her chin, looking thoughtful. "And I could have sworn…" She turned her head to her right, so her ears faced right behind her. "I could have sworn I felt someone coming."

Sokka felt a little spooked. "Okay, _what just happened_?" He threw his hands in the air, afraid, but amazed at the same time.

"I could have sworn someone was coming here. I felt them walking towards us." Toph felt with her feet again. "But they're gone."

"Are you sure you didn't make a mistake?" Sokka said. "It may be the Water Tribe, following us."

"I don't just make mistakes, Sokka." Toph said.

"Alright, but who in their right minds will be around here?" Sokka said. "It must be Water Tribe, following us."

"Sure." Toph shrugged. "Anyhow, they aren't here anymore. But someone was here, and they were the ones who calmed down Aang."

At the sound of his name, almost immediately, Aang started to groan and stir. The Airbender was nursing no wounds but seemed dazed and confused as he started to get up. Sokka ran over and helped him sit up, giving the kid some water to drink. He refused to. He looked up at Sokka. Sokka immediately felt guilty.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Aang said, his voice sounding a little broken.

"Because…because…" Sokka found he had no answer.

"Because we didn't want you to know," Toph said. "We didn't want you to find out that everyone was dead."

Aang's eyes turned angry. "You shouldn't have done that."

Sokka knew it too. "I know."

Aang turned to look behind him, at the skeletons lying delicately across the courtyard. Sokka noted grimly, that even in death, the Airbenders looked strangely serene. Some skeletons had hands draped over their chests, some were propped up by the walls, looking as though the bender had died there, quietly and peacefully as they took a quick nap in the courtyard. Aang could not bear to enter. Sokka did not want to go near the Avatar - such was his guilt and such was his fear.

"Truth is, I know why you didn't tell me," Aang said quietly.

"Oh?" Sokka said.

"You were afraid. And I would be too if I had to be the messenger of that kind of news." Aang's eyes shone with something between understanding and resentment. "And I can't hate you for that because that's not what they would want me to do."

Sokka let out the breath he was holding. That was what he wanted to hear right now. Forgiveness.

"But for the record," Toph said, "If you have anything else we need to put out there, pray share with us before we find out."

Sokka knew this was a weak attempt at a joke, but no one laughed. Silence followed.

"Guess not," Toph said.

"We're sorry, Aang," Sokka said, pleading even though his forgiveness had been already expressed. "We just wanted to protect you. And, I _swear_ we would have told you, we really would have. And we never wanted to hurt you, we never wanted you to see this honestly-"

He was stopped by a hand on his arm. Toph had reached up and placed her hand on his wrist, which immediately signalled to him that that was enough. Aang did not smile at all.

"I know Sokka. I know. I know." He said. "Besides, they're gone. The Monks, my friends, the bison. Nothing could have changed. And I should have been here with them."

"Please don't thank me, Aang," Sokka said bitterly. "This is all my tribe's fault. It's all my fault."

Toph's grip on his wrist tightened.

"No, it's not!" Toph said passionately. "Nor is it your fault Aang. God! You guys are so dumb sometimes. Sokka, do you honestly think something that happened a couple decades ago is your fault? Phantom zygote Sokka, going to stop the evil Water Tribe? And Aang, how were you supposed to know? How were you supposed to stop them? You're the Avatar, but you can't single-handedly defeat the Water Tribe. I'm sorry this happened, and I wish this hadn't." She paused for a moment, catching her breath. "But I won't have you guys going around blaming yourself for it! Why don't you just blame the Water Tribe already! What do you guys have to do with any of it?"

Aang's bottom lip quivered, and Sokka was bitterly reminded that the Avatar was just a child as Aang broke down into tears.

Arrluk looked on with satisfaction at the Earth Kingdom workers walking forwards and backwards, bending humongous chunks of earth and mud around Omashu. He had been overseeing the construction of defences, after hearing rumours of a possible Fire Nation attack soon to liberate the city. He had been (and still was) determined to keep them at bay.

He would have preferred to stay and keep pondering, but his peace was rudely disturbed by the sound of faraway chanting. He rolled his eyes. _Not again._

He quickly whistled for his horse, which was brought over by a little boy servant. He hoisted himself up and quickly rode towards the commotion. He saw the crowd before he heard the perpetrators. The huge crowd had crammed into the market street, and while many looked on in silent fear, many were joining in with the agitator's chants. All the demonstrations that Arrluk had seen or heard about, they all chanted one thing; the thing was always a staple for an Anti-Water Tribe rally. "AVA! TAR! AVA! TAR!"

Arrluk had grown tired of it already. The crowd did not budge as he approached. Normal. He dismounted his horse and forced his way through the crowd, pushing several aside and onto the ground. He ignored the screams and the shouts of pain. He managed his way to the middle quickly; many also jumped out of the way to avoid his strong hands from bowling them over.

In the middle were five Earth Kingdom citizens, each wearing an orange bandanna, with Airbender tattoos emblazoned on the front. In their posture, their tone and their faces they held no fear, just defiance, which strengthened even more when they saw Arrluk, in his Water Tribe gear. In fact, they pointed and shouted _at_ him, demanding the crowd swarm in and wreak revenge.

"Stop!" He shouted, drawing his sword half-way. The crowd immediately shrugged away. The five agitators did not budge. They glared at Arrluk with their hard brown eyes.

"Make us!" The shortest one said, the one with glasses who waved the orange bandanna in the air. "Down with the Water Tribe! We stand with the Avatar!"

The crowd had realised that Arrluk was the only Water Tribe individual here, so they screamed in agreement with the agitator. Arrluk unsheathed his sword and struck the bespectacled man, his sword leaving a long gash on his arm and face. The man fell to the ground. His friends looked furious.

"An innocent!" One man howled to the crowd. "This Water Tribe _pig_ has injured our brother!" The man moaned on the floor. "He never attacked him and yet, here he lies!"

A crowd roared its angry agreement. Arrluk was not to be fazed.

"Disband, citizens!" He warned. "Otherwise, I'll stick this sword and much more through your heads!"

The crowd screamed its disapproval. Arrluk was wondering when reinforcements were coming. They were bound to be here soon. He had sent the horse boy to inform the other generals.

The bespectacled man had been dragged off, while his compatriots were still shouting, waving their hands and fingers accusingly towards Arrluk.

"Water Tribe swine!" An orange bandana was hurled in the air and landed on Arrluk's arm. He spat on it and stamped it into the ground.

"Disband, citizens! Unless you want to be cut to the ground."

The agitators seemed to love this, screaming instead, "Die for your Earth Kingdom! Die now and the Water Tribe shall be _judged_ , be _judged_ for the lives of the innocents they had to take!"

Arrluk seethed. "Do not be rash." He warned the agitators, who spat at his face.

"You cow! You pig! You're shit! That's you!" The agitators mocked.

Arrluk had had enough. He lunged forward, his sword extended forwards, meeting the first agitator's neck. He flung him to the ground, moved to the next, then moved to the next. He could hear the screams of horror from the crowd, and he could see the crowd starting to flee. He could see the orange bandanas and banners and flags being dropped hostility and trodden on in a frantic attempt to get away. Arrluk stood next to the four downed agitators, his eyes wide and gleeful.

"Anyone else who wants to die for the Earth Kingdom?" He shouted to the screaming and fleeing masses. "Want more of a warning?" He laughed heartily, sheathing his sword. "Anyone want to call us pigs one more time?"

There was no reply - just the terrified, and fading screaming.

Arrluk laughed. So this was what power felt like. This was what it felt like to breathe and bleed superiority. He had felt this several times already. But now, _now_ , he truly saw what he could do. He stared where the crowd had been moments ago, and he realised just how easily he could snap them if he dared. He realised how weak they were - strong only in their opinions and brave only with their words. Yet they would never be able to wield a true weapon - a sword - the only thing that could ever defeat him.

He saw the blood-stained bandana of the agitator, and again, chuckled gleefully. The only weapon they had! An orange bandana with some blue arrows! That was no weapon - just a trinket. Just a symbol. But Arrluk knew better - he knew that the Water Tribe was built on sword and arrow, on ships and might - not on symbols. Paper and pen may be powerful, but the sword, if sharp enough, could cut those things in two with one hearty slice.

So he stood there, musing on his amazing victory, reflecting on his happy battleground. He allowed himself to dream, more specifically about what it cannot be known, but he did dream. And how good it felt to imagine what could be. How even better it felt to think that it could actually happen. He must talk to Hakoda. He walked away, taking careful care to wipe the blood from his shoes. He did not need Earth Kingdom being dragged around with him, clinging to him like a bad odour, like rotting eggs.

 **Well, there you have it. When I first wrote this chapter, it was so cheesy. Luckily I fixed it. I ahve the next chapter ready, so I will publish it as soon as I finish editing. See you!**


	22. Chapter 21

**Hello and here is another chapter! Hope you enjoy. Thank you so much for the favourites, follows and reviews.**

 **Impstar: Thank you so much for telling me. I tried my best to follow your advice in this chapter, tell me if it was wrong!**

 **Serendipitymadness: Glad you like it! Thanks for the review!**

 **Shinobi: Argh, I hope never to abandon this. I'm really touched that my story is one of your favourites, that really made me so happy!**

 **Ryo: Well...I feel a little bad here, there is not a lot of Zuko/Azula interaction. As for your question about Iroh, I have somehow overlooked that part! Thanks for telling me, I will concoct a reason and explain it soon...**

Chapter 21

101AG

15th Day of the 1st Month

It had taken a while to comfort and calm down Aang. The Avatar was perpetually distraught and always looked like he was on the verge of crying. Even Toph had tried to help, and Sokka and her combined powers of comforting were barely enough. So they opted to leave him alone, with the company of only Appa. Toph reckoned that would be the best comfort they could give him at that point.

They still were at the temple, as Aang was desperate not to leave. Toph and Sokka both agreed that while finding a bending Master _was_ important, getting Aang to feel better was much more important. They knew that he had lost his friend Bumi just a couple months ago, and now he had lost all the air benders.

As for Sokka, even with the constant comforting words from Toph, he still could not be consoled for the Tribe's part in ruining his friend's life. He could not wrap his head around the evil of the act, and the mercilessness. He was constantly burying his face in his hands, unable to see Aang's distraught face. Every time he saw Aang's distraught face, he felt like it sent daggers through his heart and he could not bear it. _Spirits,_ how he wished that it was not true.

Toph on the other hand, while equally upset because of her both of her friend's sadness, still thought it was best to get the hell out of here, as they were literally standing in the ruins of the civilisation Aang was mourning. Out of sight, out of mind, as she always said, despite the complete irony of it. But she could also not bear to bring herself to tell Aang that. She knew very well that he wanted to spend time with the souls of the dead benders; with their bones. She also did not like being in the sky but thought that she would bear with it for Aang and Sokka's sake.

Yet she was still confused by what she had felt. She had had both feet firmly on the ground when Aang had gone up in his tornado in anger - in fact, she had bent earth over them so she would not be swept away. She had felt something -soft, gentle and steady footsteps through the dust-storm. She very well could not see the person, and Sokka was too caught up in his desperation to even notice. Even when she pulled him over, he could not catch a glimpse of the person (people?) that she sensed. She could feel soft, padding footsteps coming closer and closer, and they stopped at Aang. It was so strange. The hurricane that was going on - and yet these people…a person could get close to the Avatar? She _must_ have imagined it.

It had puzzled her for the last four days. She had slept on it, thinking about it constantly for the past few days. Regardless, she would have to remain unbothered about it the minute Aang was ready to go. There were much bigger things to think about.

Sokka suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. She turned. "I think he's ready to go." Surprised but nonetheless relieved, Toph got up and followed Sokka to where Aang was sitting. Toph reckoned if she could see him right now, his eyes would be puff and rimmed with red, and his face pale and tear-streaked. She guessed there would be a croak to his voice, which would be raspy and sad. She wondered if his eyes were filled with grief; if they were dripping with tears.

"We have to go," Aang said quietly. "I can't stay here forever."

Toph nodded slowly.

"They're gone, and everyone will know of this evil." Aang continued, his voice growing stronger. "Now I see that the Water Tribe is truly evil. I had my doubts…but now I see it."

"So what do we do now? Kill the Water Tribe Chiefs?" Sokka asked, his voice shaking - this _was_ his father after all.

"No," Aang said,"I don't think I can. Even though they killed them, I…just can't do it."

"Then what?" Toph asked.

"I…don't know," Aang sighed. "All I know is that even though I'm really, really, really sad, I have the world waiting for me and my help. The Water Tribe killed my people, and I won't let them hurt anyone else anymore."

Sokka nodded. So did Toph.

"Let's go," Aang said quietly, getting up and walking towards the camp they had set up.

Sokka let out a small sigh. Toph tapped his arm.

"What did Aang look like?"

Sokka paused, presumably looking back to Aang. "Um…quite normal," he said. "He looked calm. Quite normal, if you ask me."

Toph shrugged and moved back towards the fireplace, Sokka following.

"So where do we go now?" Toph asked the two of them.

"Well, we should definitely find a Water Bending Master, but now Pakku is…well… _dead_ , I don't really know where we can find one."

"We'll find one eventually," Aang said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"I'll pack." Sokka walked off.

Aang was going to do the same, but a sudden curiosity overtook Toph and she stopped him, grabbing his shoulder firmly.

"Do you remember anything from when you were in the Avatar state?" Toph questioned. '

Aang thought for a second. "Uhhh…no. I don't remember much." He thought again. "I remember wind, and me rising up. I think there's more, I just can't place it."

"Do you remember people?" Toph probed further, "People walking towards you?"

Aang thought harder. "People? Wasn't that you and Sokka?"

"No."

"I don't. I remember a hand. A hand reaching out to grab me. Then it's blank."

"Okay. Thanks."

So her suspicions were correct. Unless Aang had somehow imagined this hand, then it was true that someone had gotten close to him. Her senses have never deceived her, and now she was dead certain that they were not alone. But the question was - who was it that was also here?

"Wait. Is there someone else here?" Aang spoke as though he had just read her mind.

"I think so," Toph said. "I felt them coming."

"That's strange," Aang replied.

"I think it's no big deal though. If they want to be found then they would have shown up already." Toph said quickly, not wanting to spend any more time in the temples; eager to get back to the big task at hand.

Sokka strolled over. "Any ideas where we go now?" He spread out a map on the floor.

"Maybe we should go to another Earth Kingdom city?" Aang suggested. "Then we can buy some more supplies and get some information."

"Alright," said Sokka, "but where?"

"Omashu?" Toph piped up.

Sokka traced the path from their location to the city. "That _could_ work. Aang?"

"That's fine."

"So it's settled. We can head off to Omashu tonight, do our thing, then regroup and fly off to find a water bending teacher. Right?"

"Right!" Aang and Toph replied.

Sokka rolled up his map again and stuffed it into his sack. Toph could tell that evening was on its way, so she tied up her own bag and slung it onto her back. Aang followed. They gathered around their fire to eat, and quickly they were done. They were just about to finish packing when Toph sensed something. They had camped in a sheltered part of the temple, close to the air bison temples, where two staircases were present - one that led down to the stables and another that led up to the top of the cliff and into the forest.

She stopped. Both feet planted firmly on the ground, she slowly turned her head to the direction of the disturbance. Aang clambered over to the side of the saddle, sensing something was wrong and looked in the same direction as Toph. Toph felt the footsteps travel down the stairs coming down from the top, and out of the shadows, they came…closer…closer.

There was a shout. "Who's there?" The three of them froze. A helmeted head appeared, the person climbing up to where they were seated. Sokka got up slowly. The person slowly came into view, and when he did, Aang immediately jumped to his feet, then rushed back to Appa, dragging Toph with him. "Who are you?" The Water Tribe soldier shouted. "There's someone here!" He called over his shoulder, causing a loud commotion down below. There had to be more soldiers. _What the hell are they doing here?_

Sokka unsheathed his sword and pointed it threateningly at the soldier. "Don't come any closer." He warned. The soldier drew his own club, and held it over his shoulder, ready to strike.

"None of you move." The soldier warned.

Sokka glanced over his shoulder, making sure the two others were okay. Suddenly, out of nowhere, pebbles shot past his face, slamming into the soldiers' heads, knocking them unconscious. Toph! Sokka grabbed their things, and with the others, they ran past them, and down the staircase leading to where Appa was.

The rest of the soldiers started to shout and swarmed after them. Sokka grabbed Toph's wrist, and practically dragged her down the stairs, while she screamed in indignation. Aang sent an air blast the soldiers' way, and the front few were blown back.

"What are they doing here?" Aang shouted in disbelief.

"I don't know? Patrol duty? They must have seen a sign of people or something!"

"Appa's moulting!" Aang said, realisation striking him.

"He's WHAT?"

"Dropping fur!" Aang replied.

"Oh GOD!"

Sokka turned to look back in front but realised that Toph had suddenly stopped, concentrating on something.

"Now what?" He shouted at her, frustrated.

Aang looked like he was at a loss too. Sokka turned back to Toph. He tugged at her arm; she shook him off. He could see the soldiers coming around the bend…almost reaching them.

Toph's feet turned to the stone wall next to them. She placed her hand against the wall, feeling for something. Sokka groaned in impatience. "What are you _doing_? They're _coming_!"

Toph started to grin. Her hand jerked to the left, and the wall opened, revealing a small dark passage behind it. "There's a tunnel."

Sokka asked no questions, just running in. Toph quickly sealed the opening, just as the soldiers reached it.

Sokka breathed a sigh of relief. "Now what? Where's Appa?"

Turns out, there was no secret door at that point in the wall. There was already a tunnel a metre in, but Toph had bent the stone away to form a new tunnel. He continued to wait for a reply, but when no reply came, he turned around. He now knew why there had been no reply. The others had been too busy staring at what was in front of them.

A tall, dark figure, robed and obscured, had walked into their path.

"Who are you?" Aang said, pointing his staff forwards, stepping in front of his friends.

Sokka could hear the soldiers outside, shouting about where they went. They were trapped.

The figure did not seem to care about Aang's question. Instead, it turned, and beckoned, jerking its head to the left, indicating them to follow.

"Come with me. I will bring you to your bison. But there is something else you need to see." The voice indicated the figure was female. She walked slowly down a left passage.

The three of them looked at each other, confused. Toph took the first step forwards.

" _Toph!_ " Sokka hissed, grabbing her arm.

"She's not lying," Toph replied. "Heartbeats quicken when you lie." She shook free of Sokka's grasp and followed the woman. Sokka and Aang shared uneasy glances, but took a shaky step forward. _She could just be a very good liar,_ Sokka protested silently to Toph.

* * *

Azula sat at the discussion table, bored of listening to all the old men debate about what to and not to do. Her father had promised her interesting content, not this boring babble about food rations and energy depletion. Spirits, when will the Water Tribe _ever_ come into this dreary discussion? That was what she longed to hear about.

To her left, her father looked interested, but barely so. She willed him to slam his fist on the table about talk about their shiny new war balloons. That would be so much better.

Finally, after what felt like hours and hours, Ozai flipped the notes to the next page. Printed right across the top: OMASHU.

Azula started to grin. She grinned from ear to ear the minute "invasion" slipped past Ozai's lips. The maps rolled out, and Azula cracked her knuckles, ready to start positioning the troops.

She plucked up a round piece from the box and turned it over. They were small replicas of their new machines - war balloons. She placed them left of Omashu. She took out the infantry troop statuette and placed them near the weakest spot of the Omashu wall. She took the metal troops and placed them just behind the infantry. She took the elite fire benders and placed them around the war balloons. While this was all happening, the old men watched her every move, ready to pounce on any questionable choice. Azula wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of superiority, however. She took her time, thinking and strategising, remembering her father's tips and General Arrluk's lessons. She placed each troop with great care, making sure to think after each placement. The old men stared and stared, and when she was done, her father gave her a hearty pat on the back.

"Isn't my daughter a genius?" Ozai did not ask this as an open-ended question; everyone knew there was only one answer: Yes.

 **See you guys soon!**


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